Relationship between body weight of primiparous sows during late gestation and subsequent reproductive efficiency over six parities

Jin Soo Kim, Xiaojian Yang, Samuel K Baidoo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

The present study investigated the impact of parity 1 gilt body weight during late gestation (d 109) on subsequent reproductive performance of sows and performance of suckling pigs. A total of 2,404 farrowing records over 6 parities were divided into six groups on the basis of body weight (190, 200, 210, 220, 230, and 240 kg) at d 109 of gestation of 585 gilts. Significant effects (p< 0.05) of body weight on sow retention rate was noticed, with the 210 kg group having the lowest culling rate and highest total number of piglets born alive over the 6 parities. With increase of body weight, a linear increase (p<0.05) in losses of body weight and backfat during the lactation period of parity 1 and a linear decrease (p<0.05) in backfat loss for parities 4 and 6 were found. Compared with light sows, heavy sows had higher (p<0.05) litter weight at birth for parities 1 and 2 and at weaning in parity 1. Sow weaning-to-estrus interval of sows was not influenced (p>0.05) by body weight. In conclusion, maintaining optimal body weight during gestation would be beneficial to sows and suckling piglets.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)768-774
Number of pages7
JournalAsian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
Volume29
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright © 2016 by Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences.

Keywords

  • Gestation body weight
  • Parities
  • Reproductive efficiency
  • Sow

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