Effect of feeding diets containing non-GM or GM maize
on body weight, body composition of sows and growth
rate of offspring
Sows fed the GM maize-based diets were heavier on day 56 of
gestation compared with sows fed the non-GM maize diets
(P¼0·05; Table 2). On day 110 of gestation, there was no
difference in BW between the treatments. There was no difference
in back-fat depth between the treatments at any time
during the study. The average daily gain of piglets or the variation
in average daily gain within litter during the suckling
period was not affected by feeding GM maize to sows. Piglets
from GM maize-fed sows tended to be lighter at weaning than
piglets from non-GM maize-fed sows (P¼0·08). Litter weaning
weight or the within-litter variation in piglet weaning weight
was not affected by feeding GM maize to sows. There was
no difference in pre-weaning mortality levels per litter
between the treatments.