Effects of maternal dietary enteromorpha prolifera polysaccharide iron supplement on mineral elements and iron level of neonatal piglets

Iron plays a key role in maternal health during pregnancy and fetal growth. Enteromorpha polysaccharide –iron (EP-Fe) as an organic iron chelate may improve the iron transmission of mother and offspring, ameliorate the poor pregnancy outcomes of sows, and alleviate the growth restriction of piglets caused by iron deficiency. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of maternal dietary supplementation with EP-Fe on reproductive performance and placental iron transmission of sows, as well as growth performance of piglets. Sixty pregnant sows at the 95th day of gestation were randomly divided into control group (CON) and EP-Fe group (EP-Fe, 139 mg kg − 1 ). Blood samples of sows and neonatal piglets, colostrum, and tissue samples were collected on the day of delivery. The animal experiment ended at the 21th day of post-delivery. Results showed that maternal dietary EP-Fe increased colostrum iron ( P  < 0.05) of sows, as well as final litter weight ( P  < 0.05) and average daily weight of piglets ( P  < 0.05) during d 1–21 of lactation, as well as iron and manganese content in umbilical cord blood ( P  < 0.05) and hepatic iron of neonatal piglets ( P  < 0.01), and decreased fecal iron ( P  < 0.001), serum calcium ( P  < 0.05), phosphorus ( P  < 0.05) and zinc ( P  < 0.01) in the parturient sow. RT-qPCR results showed that FPN1 and SLC39A14 in placenta, as well as TfR1 and SLC39A14 in duodenum of neonatal piglets were activated by maternal EP-Fe supplement. These findings suggest that maternal dietary EP-Fe could increase iron storage of neonatal piglets via improving placental iron transport and iron secretion in colostrum, thus enhance the growth performance of sucking piglets.