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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 November 2017
The present experiment has been designed to investigate the influence of variations in energy intake during both pregnancy and lactation on short- and long-term sow and litter performance. There is now sufficient evidence to suggest that the ARC (1981) factorial estimates of the energy requirements of the sow during pregnancy are too high, due, possibly, to an over-estimation of the maintenance energy component (MEm). Revised values, based on a constant ME value throughout psregnancy of 439 kJ ME/kg0.75 per day, have therefore been calculated and applied in the present experiment. An additional feature of the experiment is to provide information on the effect of lactation feed intake on the utilization of energy in subsequent pregnancies for maternal body weight gain.