Effect of anise flavor on the performance of sows and their litters with different weaning ages

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary supplementation of anise flavor on the performance of lactating sows and suckling pigs at different weaning ages. A total of 120 sows (Landrace ${\times}$ Yorkshire) were used in this experiment. Sows were fed with a commercial lactation diet (60 sows) or diet with flavor (60 sows) during days 100 to 114 of gestation period and the whole lactation period. Piglets were allotted to 2 dietary treatments based on their initial body weight (BW) using a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement of treatments with 2 levels of anise flavor (0 or 0.5 g/kg) and weaning periods (weaned at 21 day or 28 day after birth). Sows fed with flavor supplemented diets had higher (p < 0.05) back fat and average daily feed intake (ADFI) at weaning, lower (p < 0.05) back fat loss than those fed with non-flavor diets. Sows weaned at 28 day had higher (p < 0.05) weaning back fat and lower (p < 0.05) back fat loss than those weaned on 21 day. During weaning, piglet average daily gain (ADG), ADFI, digestibility of dry matter (DM), nitrogen (N), and gross energy (GE) and fecal score were affected by anise flavor, respectively. In conclusion, dietary flavor supplementation could increase feed intake of lactating sows, improve growth performance and reduce weaning stress of piglets, especially effective in the early weanling piglets. Meanwhile, interactive effects were observed about the piglet performance between weaning ages and anise flavor supplementation after weaning.