In conclusion, feeding up to 9% crude glycerol to lactating sows has no adverse effects on sow or litter performance. The increased dietary salt content resulting from the higher glycerol inclusion had no effect on the sow’s daily water consumption. Results from this experiment do not indicate dietary glycerol has any utility in reducing heat stress experienced by the sow during lactation because respiration rates and rectal body temperature were unaffected by diet. Dietary crude glycerol does have an effect on milk composition as lactose increased linearly with increase in dietary glycerol. Increasing dietary glycerol up to 9 % increases plasma glycerol concentration without influencing plasma glucose concentrations.
Results from this study suggest that lactating sows fed diets containing up to 9% crude glycerol have acceptable performance compared to sows fed a standard cornsoybean meal diet. Based on the current results, we conclude up to 9% crude glycerol can be added to sow lactation diets as an alternative energy source to partially replace corn in the diet.