Abstract: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary concentrations of choline and intrauterine growth retardation( IUGR) on growth performance and hepatic antioxidant parameters of pigs.Twelve normal body weight( NBW) piglets and twelve IUGR piglets were selected according to birth weight. At weaning( 23 d of age),both NBW and IUGR piglets were fed based diet or choline diet.Thus,all piglets were distributed into 4 treatments( NBW + NC,NBW + HC,IUGR + NC and IUGR + HC) × 6 piglets.Determination of body weight was performed at specified days,antioxidant parameters in the liver of pigs were measured at 200 d. The body weight of IUGR pigs were decreased significantly at 23,73,120d( p < 0.05),while compared with NBW pigs,there was a slight decrease in the body weight of IUGR pigs at 200 d. A tendency toward decreased T-AOC activity was observed in the liver of IUGR pigs,whilst IUGR significantly decreased the DPPH·scavenging activity in liver compared to NBW( p < 0.05).Consumption of the choline diet significantly increased the activities of T-AOC,SOD and DPPH· scavenging activity in the liver of pigs( p < 0.05),whilst hepatic MDA content was significantly decreased after choline treatment( p < 0.05). In conclusion,IUGR has a permanent stunting effect on growth performance of pigs and damages hepatic antioxidant ability.Notably,choline supplementation could ameliorate the harmful effects induced by IUGR.