Abstract Arginine plays an important role during reproduction, however, the amount of supplementation in sow diet is still uncertain. The aim of the study was to verify the efficacy of a gestating diet enriched or not with a low dose of L-arginine (Arg) on sow productive performance in terms of numbers and weight of piglets at birth and at weaning, frequency of intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR) and piglets’ mortality, sow placenta weight and salivary humoral immunity and intestinal microbial balance of the sows. 205 sows (Landrace x Large White) were divided into two experimental groups: a control group (CON) (102 sows) and a group supplemented with 0.25% of Arg (ARG) for the whole pregnancy period. Saliva and faecal samples were collected two days before farrowing and used for immunoglobulins and microbial analysis, respectively. Arg improved the number of total born piglets (p = .043) and tended to improve the number of total born alive (p = .086) and to reduce IUGR % (p = .090) and dead piglets at d0–d3 (p = .088). The weight of placenta and humoral immunity were not influenced by Arg. Arg did not modify the faecal microbial structure (alpha and beta indices) but increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidaceae family and Bacteroides genera (p = .0001). The results support the knowledge that Arg plays a key role in nutrition and physiology of pregnant sows without compromising gut eubiosis. Highlight Arg supplementation of sows’ gestation diet increased the number of total borns Arg supplementation of sows’ gestation diet did not negatively affect the sows’ gut eubiosis Arg plays a significant role in the nutrition of pregnant sows.

中文翻译：

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妊娠期补充 L-精氨酸对母猪生产性能和母猪粪便微生物特征的影响

摘要 精氨酸在繁殖过程中起着重要作用，但母猪日粮中的添加量尚不确定。该研究的目的是验证妊娠日粮是否富含低剂量 L-精氨酸 (Arg) 对母猪生产性能的影响，包括出生和断奶时仔猪的数量和体重、宫内生长频率发育迟缓（IUGR）和仔猪死亡率、母猪胎盘重量和唾液体液免疫以及母猪肠道微生物平衡。205 头母猪 (Landrace x Large White) 被分为两个实验组：对照组 (CON)（102 头母猪）和在整个妊娠期补充 0.25% Arg (ARG) 的组。在分娩前两天收集唾液和粪便样本，分别用于免疫球蛋白和微生物分析。Arg 提高了总出生仔猪数 (p = .043) 并倾向于提高总出生活仔数 (p = .086) 并降低 IUGR % (p = .090) 和 d0–d3 死亡仔猪数 (p = .088）。Arg对胎盘重量和体液免疫没有影响。Arg 不会改变粪便微生物结构（α 和β 指数），但会增加拟杆菌科和拟杆菌属的相对丰度（p = .0001）。结果支持了这样的认识，即精氨酸在怀孕母猪的营养和生理学中起着关键作用，而不会影响肠道的优生化。亮点 母猪妊娠日粮中添加精氨酸增加了总出生数 母猪妊娠日粮中添加精氨酸没有负面影响母猪的肠道优生化 精氨酸在妊娠母猪的营养中起着重要作用。