Preliminary study on the relationship between sow maternal behaviour during early lactation and polymorphism of PRLR gene

PCR-RFLP technique was applied to analyze single nucleotide polymorphisms of PRLR gene in Minpig and Landrace to investigate the possible effect of PRLR gene on sow maternal behaviour. A Nae I-RFLP site was detected in the PRLP gene. The single nucleotide polymorphism, a T-->C transition at nucleotide 1,620 of the cDNA sequence, was a silent mutation. Least square analysis between the genotypes and the maternal behavioural traits showed that sows with genotype AB had a significantly higher frequency of lateral-lying-to- other-posture trait and percentage of sow-terminated nursing trait than sows with the AA and BB genotypes, although no significant differences were found in other behavioural traits. It is possible that allele A is the unfavorable allele for sow maternal behaviour.