Vet Med - Czech, 2020, 65(11):473-479 | DOI: 10.17221/117/2020-VETMED

Impact of piglet birth weight on later rearing performanceOriginal Paper

H Jankowiak1, P Balogh2, A Cebulska1, E Vaclavkova3, M Bocian1, P Reszka1
1 Department of Animal Breeding, Faculty of Animal Breeding and Biology, UTP University of Science and Technology, Bydgoszcz, Poland
2 Department of Research Methodology and Statistics, University of Debrecen, Hungary
3 Institute of Animal Science, Prague-Uhříněves/Kostelec nad Orlicí, Czech Republic

The piglet birth weight and its variance within a litter may be considered important traits that influence pig productivity in the first and later stages of rearing. 222 piglets were evaluated from the moment they were born until weaning, and then as fattening pigs until the end of the fattening (n = 207) in three birth weight groups. Negative consequences of an excessively low piglet birth weight were observed, including higher mortality until weaning and a lower average daily gain during suckling. The correlation coefficients between the piglet birth weight and the remaining indicators confirmed the negative impact of the low piglet birth weight, fattening performance and carcass slaughter value (P < 0.01). The regression analysis between the piglet birth weight and the growth rate during the whole rearing phases indicated that only the piglet growth rate from birth to weaning is determined by their birth weight.

Keywords: pigs; body weight at birth; fattening; slaughter traits

Received: May 27, 2020; Accepted: September 9, 2020; Published: November 30, 2020  Show citation

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Jankowiak H, Balogh P, Cebulska A, Vaclavkova E, Bocian M, Reszka P. Impact of piglet birth weight on later rearing performance. Vet Med - Czech. 2020;65(11):473-479. doi: 10.17221/117/2020-VETMED.
Share...
Download citation
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Open full article

    References

    1. Berard J, Kreuzer M, Bee G. Effect of litter size and birth weight on growth, carcass and pork quality, and their relationship to postmortem proteolysis. J Anim Sci. 2008 May;86(9):2357-68. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    2. Bocian M, Jankowiak H, Grajewska S, Kapelanska J, Wlodarski W. Wplyw masy ciala prosiat przy urodzeniu na efekty ich odchowu i wyniki tuczu [Influence of piglet birth weight on rearing and fattening results]. Rocz Nauk Zoot. 2011;38:189-95. Polish.
    3. Dwyer CM, Stickland NC, Fletcher JM. The influence of maternal nutrition on muscle fiber number development in the porcine fetus and on subsequent postnatal growth. J Anim Sci. 1994 Apr;72(4):911-7. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    4. Fix JS, Cassady JP, Herring WO, Holl JW, Culberston MS, See MT. Effect of piglet birth weight on body weight, growth, backfat, and longissimus muscle area of commercial market swine. Livest Sci. 2010 Jan;127(1):51-9. Go to original source...
    5. Foxcroft GR, Dixon WT, Dyck MK, Novak S, Harding JCS, Almeida FCRL. Prenatal programming of postnatal development in the pig. Soc Reprod Fertil. 2009;66 Suppl: 213-31.
    6. Grela ER, Skomial J. Polish pig feeding standards. Pigs feeding standards. Feeding recommendations and nutritional value of feed for pigs. Jabłonna: Wyd. IFiŻZ PAN. 2014. 94 p.
    7. Gondret F, Lefaucheur L, Louveau I, Lebret B, Pichodo X., Cozler YL. Influence of piglet birth weight on postnatal growth perfomance, tissue lipogenic capacity and muscle histological traits at market weight. Livest Prod Sci. 2005 Apr;93(2):137-46. Go to original source...
    8. Houben MAM, Tobias TJ, Holstege MMC. The effect of double nursing, an alternative nursing strategy for the hyper-prolific sow herd, on herd performance. Porcine Health Mang. 2017 Feb;3(2):1-7. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    9. Kobek-Kjeldager C, Moustsen VA, Theil PK, Pedersen LJ. Effect of litter size, milk replacer and housing on production results of hyper-prolific sows. Anim. 2020 Apr;14(4): 824-33. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    10. Milewska W, Falkowski J, Karpiesiuk K, Kozera W, Bugnacka D. Wplyw masy ciala prosiat przy urodzeniu na tempo ich wzrostu do odsadzenia w wieku 5 lub 7 tygodni [Effect of birth weight on the growth rate of piglets reared to the age of 5 or 7 weeks]. Wiadomości Zoot. 2016;1:1926. Polish.
    11. Milligan BN, Dewey EC, de Grau FA. Neonatal-piglet weight variation and its relation to pre-weaning mortality and weight gain on commercial farms. Prev Vet Med. 2002a Dec;56(2):119-27. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    12. Milligan BN, Fraser D, Kramer DL. Within-litter birth weight variation in the domestic pig and is relation to pre-weaning survival, weight gain, and variation in weaning weights. Livest Prod Sci. 2002b Aug;76(1):181-91. Go to original source...
    13. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Journal of Laws 04.205.2102: Rozporzadzenie Ministra Rolnictwa i Rozwoju Wsi z dnia 9 wrzesnia 2004 r. w sprawie kwalifikacji osob uprawnionych do zawodowego uboju oraz warunkow i metod uboju i usmiercania zwierzat [Ordinance of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of September 9, 2004 on the qualifications of persons entitled to professional slaughter and the conditions and methods of slaughtering and killing animals]. 2004. Polish.
    14. Nissen P, Jorgensen PF, Oksbjerg N. Within-litter variation in muscle fiber characteristics, pig performance, and meat quality traits. J Anim Sci. 2004 Feb;82(2):414-21. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    15. Redmer DA, Wallace JM, Reynolds LP. Effect of nutrient intake during pregnancy on fetal and placental growth and vascular development. Dom Anim Endocrinol. 2004 Oct;27(3):199-217. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    16. Rehfeldt C, Kuhn G. Consequences of birth weight for postnatal growth performance and carcass quality in pigs as related to myogenesis. J Anim Sci. 2006 Apr;84 Suppl: E113-23. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    17. Rehfeldt C, Tuchscherer A, Hartung M, Kuhn G. A second look at the influence of birth weight on carcass and meat quality in pigs. Meat Sci. 2008 Mar;78(3):170-5. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    18. Rekiel A, Wiecek J, Batorska M, Kulisiewicz J. Effect of sows prolificacy and nutrition on pre- and postnatal growth of progeny - A review. Ann Anim Sci. 2014 Feb;14(1):3-15. Go to original source...
    19. Quiniou N, Dagorn J, Gaudre D. Variation of piglets' birth weight and consequences on subsequent performance. Livest Prod Sci. 2002 Nov;78(1):63-70. Go to original source...
    20. Town SC, Putman CT, Turchinsky NJ, Dixon WT, Foxcroft GR. Number of conceptuses in utero affects porcine fetal muscle development. Reproduction. 2004 Oct;128(4): 443-54. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    21. Vallet JL, Freking BA. Research on uterine capacity and litter size in swine [Internet]. 2005 [cited Jan 15, 2020]. Available from: http://www.ars.usda.gov/sp2UserFiles/Place/30400515/Publications/UterineCapacity.pdf. p. 1-4.
    22. Wu G, Bazer FW, Cudd TA, Meininger DJ, Spencer TE. Maternal nutrition and fetal development. J Nutrition. 2004 Sep;134(9):2169-72. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...
    23. Wu G, Bazer FW, Wallace JM, Spencer TE. Board-invited review: Intrauterine growth retardation: Implications for the animal sciences. J Anim Sci. 2006 Sep;84(9):2316-37. Go to original source... Go to PubMed...

    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY NC 4.0), which permits non-comercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original publication is properly cited. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.


    Return to the content