Milk Thistle Extract Enhances Lactational Performance in Primiparous Sows: A Comparative Screening of Plant-Derived Additives.
- 1Engineering Research Center of Biomass Materials, Ministry of Education, College of Life Sciences and Agri-Forestry, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China.
- 2Institute of Animal Nutrition, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China.
Abstract
Primiparous sows frequently fail to meet lactation nutrient demands, but direct comparisons of plant-derived feed additives are scarce. Eighty primiparous Yorkshire sows were assigned to four treatments from 14-day pre-farrowing to 21-day weaning: control (CON), milk thistle extract (MTE, 1% in 100 g/d), fenugreek seed extract (FSE, 1% in 100 g/d), and mannan oligosaccharide (MOS, 1.4% prepartum and 1.8% postpartum in 100 g/d). Production traits were recorded; mechanistic assays were confined to CON and MTE, the group that performed best in the production screen, and are reported as an exploratory, hypothesis-generating comparison. Lactation feed intake differed among groups (p = 0.047): MTE sows ate 4.16 kg/d compared to 3.51 kg/d for CON, while FSE (3.73) and MOS (3.47) were intermediate and similar to CON. Only MTE improved litter performance, raising weaning litter weight (+10.6%), piglet weight (+15.4%), and calculated milk yield (+13.1%) versus CON (p < 0.05); FSE and MOS showed no significant effects. MTE also increased prolactin (at farrowing and d-14) and catalase (at farrowing) but lowered d-14 cholesterol and HDL. In this two-step trial, MTE was the sole additive enhancing lactational performance, with endocrine and redox changes consistent with improved lactation.
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BibTeX
@article{wu2026milk,
title = {{Milk Thistle Extract Enhances Lactational Performance in Primiparous Sows: A Comparative Screening of Plant-Derived Additives.}},
author = {Yuedai Wu and Li Yang and Zongze He and Man Wang and Xiang Zhou and Jian He and Mao Hu},
journal = {Animals : an open access journal from MDPI},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.3390/ani16193005},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42882973},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Milk Thistle Extract Enhances Lactational Performance in Primiparous Sows: A Comparative Screening of Plant-Derived Additives.
AU - Yuedai Wu
AU - Li Yang
AU - Zongze He
AU - Man Wang
AU - Xiang Zhou
AU - Jian He
AU - Mao Hu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/24
JO - Animals : an open access journal from MDPI
DO - 10.3390/ani16193005
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42882973
AB - Primiparous sows frequently fail to meet lactation nutrient demands, but direct comparisons of plant-derived feed additives are scarce. Eighty primiparous Yorkshire sows were assigned to four treatments from 14-day pre-farrowing to 21-day weaning: control (CON), milk thistle extract (MTE, 1% in 100 g/d), fenugreek seed extract (FSE, 1% in 100 g/d), and mannan oligosaccharide (MOS, 1.4% prepartum and 1.8% postpartum in 100 g/d). Production traits were recorded; mechanistic assays were confined to CON and MTE, the group that performed best in the production screen, and are reported as an exploratory, hypothesis-generating comparison. Lactation feed intake differed among groups (p = 0.047): MTE sows ate 4.16 kg/d compared to 3.51 kg/d for CON, while FSE (3.73) and MOS (3.47) were intermediate and similar to CON. Only MTE improved litter performance, raising weaning litter weight (+10.6%), piglet weight (+15.4%), and calculated milk yield (+13.1%) versus CON (p < 0.05); FSE and MOS showed no significant effects. MTE also increased prolactin (at farrowing and d-14) and catalase (at farrowing) but lowered d-14 cholesterol and HDL. In this two-step trial, MTE was the sole additive enhancing lactational performance, with endocrine and redox changes consistent with improved lactation.
SN - 2076-2615
ER -