EVALUATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MATERNAL AND PIGLET BREED DIFFERENCES ON BEHAVIOR AND PRODUCTION OF MEISHAN SYNTHETIC AND EUROPEAN WHITE BREEDS DURING LACTATION
Ag. Sinclair et al., EVALUATION OF THE INFLUENCE OF MATERNAL AND PIGLET BREED DIFFERENCES ON BEHAVIOR AND PRODUCTION OF MEISHAN SYNTHETIC AND EUROPEAN WHITE BREEDS DURING LACTATION, Animal Science, 66, 1998, pp. 423-430
Meishan synthetic sows and gilts have been shown to produce higher lit
ter weights at weaning than White breed type sows and gilts. To invest
igate the factors contributing to this, 64 multiparous sows were used
in a 2 X 2 X 2 factorial experiment to assess the influence of materna
l breed type (0.50 Meishan synthetic (M) or purebred European Landrace
and Large White (W)), litter size (eight (L) or 12 (H) piglets) and b
reed of piglet (0.25 Meishan hybrid (m) or white hybrid (w)) on sow an
d litter production and behaviour over a 28-day lactation. All litters
were formed by cross-fostering to standardized litter rearing size 24
h after farrowing. Sows were given food twice daily to appetite. When
there were no treatment interactions, main effects ave presented. M s
ows were lighter (M = 215, W = 241 (s.e. 3.61) kg, P < 0.001) and fatt
er (M = 31.5, W = 21.7 (s.e. 0.72) mm, P < 0.001) at farrowing than W
and had higher maternal weight loss (M = 14.7, W = 5.9 (s.e. 0.85) kg,
P < 0.001) and higher back fat loss (L = 5.6, W = 2.0 (s.e. 0.28) mm,
P < 0.001) in lactation. High lifter size resulted in higher maternal
weight loss (L = 7.4, H = 13.2 (s.e. 0.85) kg, P < 0.001) and fat los
s (L = 2.9, H = 4.7 (s.e. 0.28) mm, P < 0.001) than low litter size. L
itter growth rate was higher for M than for W (M = 17.0, W = 14.5 (s.e
. 0.42) kg/week, P < 0.001) and for high lifter size than for low litt
er size (L = 14.3, H = 17.3 (s.e. 0.42 kg/week, P < 0.001). The m pigl
ets had lower lifer growth rates than w piglets (m = 15.1, w = 16.5 (s
.e. 0.42) kg/week, P < 0.001). There were no breed differences in the
length of suckling periods but M had shorter suckling intervals than W
(M = 38.1, W = 48.7 (s.e. 1.08) min, P < 0.001). It is concluded that
the higher litter weights produced by M sows are due solely to matern
al effects and not litter size or piglet genotype.