2007 Annual Report 1a.Objectives (from AD-416) The objectives of the study outlined in this proposal are as follows: I. Investigate if the feeding of fish oil to sows and gilts prior to mating and during early pregnancy increases litter performance in the subsequent parity. II. Evaluate the growth performance and carcass and meat quality characteristics of the progeny from sows and gilts fed fish oil prior to mating and during early pregnancy. 1b.Approach (from AD-416) In separate experiments reproductive tracts will be evaluated at slaughter from gilts (100) fed control or fish oil containing diets approximately 30 d after AI, and the number of piglets, suckling pigs, weaned pigs and other measurement will be obtained from sows (200) fed control or fish oil containing diets. Senior dogs (> 8 yr old) will be fed control or containing fish protein hydrolysates diets and feces analyzed and blood samples collected for analysis of systemic immune indices. The effect of fish oil on reproductive performance postweaning of pigs and subsequent growth of piglets after birth through weaning will be evaluated. Using dogs the effects of diets containing fish protein hydrolysates on nutrient digestibilities and immune indices will be evaluated. Documents SCA with U of IL-Urbana. Formerly 5341-31410-002-07S (11/05). 3.Progress Report This report serves to document research conducted under a specific cooperative agreement between ARS and the University of Illinois-Urbana. Additional details of the research can be found in the report for the parent CRIS 5341-31410-003-00D, Converting Alaska Fish By-Products Into Value Added Ingredients and Products. The ADODR monitored project activities for this research with telephone conference calls, e-mail communications and a site visit to the University of Illinois on September 18, 2006. Two studies were conducted to determine the effects of dietary supplementation with cold water marine fish oil on reproductive performance. Study I was carried out with gilts on three treatments. Study II was carried out on a commercial farm and involved 206 sows. The results of these studies show that feeding fish oil prior to breeding increased fetal numbers in gilts but had no effect on the litter performance of sows in a commercial setting. Further research is required to determine the reasons for these conflicting results. Two studies were conducted to evaluate the nutritional value of three fishmeals as protein sources in weanling pig diets. Study I was conducted with four treatments: hydrolyzed Pollock fish meal, hydrolyzed salmon fishmeal, hydrolyzed commercial fishmeal, and spray dried animal plasma to measure the apparent digestibility. Study II was conducted to investigate the effects on growth performance of diets based on two of the fishmeals plus a spray dried animal plasma diet. The results of these studies suggest that the fish based samples evaluated were inferior to spray dried animal plasma in terms of their effect on early post-weaning performance of piglets but may have a role as a later post-weaning ingredient. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of feeding diets containing fish protein substrates on total tract nutrient digestibilities and indices of immune status on aged dogs. Test diets contained pink salmon hyrolysate (PSH), white fish meal (WFM), and milt meal (MM). There was a trend for higher apparent DM digestibility in dogs fed the MM and PSH diets compared to those fed the control and WFM diets. Cytokine gene expression data showed a trend for a higher fold change from baseline of TGF-¿ in dogs fed diets containing MM and PSH compared to those fed the control diet. Fold change of TGF-¿ was also higher in dogs fed PSH diets than for those fed the WFM diet. 4.Accomplishments None 5.Significant Activities that Support Special Target Populations None