Feeding high-fiber diets to sows during gestation may have
beneficial effects on the occurrence of abnormal behaviors.
In fact, sows receiving bulky diets based on wheat bran and
com cobs or oat hulls and oats perform less stereotyped
behaviors and adjunctive drinking and spend more time
lying than sows fed a corn and soybean diet (Robert et al'
1993). High-fiber diets also increased the rate ofpassage of
digesta in the gut, which in turn decreased the number of
gram-negative bacteria that are prone to produce endotoxins
(Morkoc et al. 1983). Since it was shown that small quantities
ofendotoxins producedby Escherichia coli bacteria can
bring about a decrease in prolactin concentrations in the sow
(Smith and Wagner 1984), it would be plausible that sows
receiving high-frber diets would have greater blood levels of
prolactin. This might be beneficial to the piglets since it has
been shown that in rats, prolactin, estrogens, progesterone
and oxytocin may be involved in the establishment of matemal
behavior (Bridges et al. 1985; Rosenblatt 1987). Yet the
effect ofhigh-fiber diets on the endocrine status and maternal
behavior of sows has not been studied. Therefore, the goal
of the present experiment was to establish the effect of highf,rber
diets given throughout gestation, on the endocrine status
and the peripartum behavior of sows.