Abstract
Within-litter variation in birth weight is a relevant factor in pig production. This study aimed at comparing pre-weaning mortality, colostrum intake (CI), passive immunization, and growth of piglets from litters of uniform (UN) or heterogeneous (HET) birth weights. The study included 52 multiparous sows (Large White × Landrace) and their litters. Two types of litters were constituted based on birth weight, namely: UN or HET, the control group, using piglets from two to three sows farrowing approximately at the same time. At birth, piglets were weighed, identified, and placed in a box under an IR lamp. At the end of farrowing, piglets were re-weighed and allotted to groups UN or HET (12 per litter) with average weights of 1394 and 1390 g, respectively, and allowed to suckle (time 0). They were re-weighed 24 h later to estimate CI and sows' colostrum yield. At time 0, the average intra-litter CV (%) in weight of experimental litters were 9.3 ± 0.8 (SEM) and 27.8 ± 0.7 in groups UN and HET, respectively (P < 0.001). At 2 days of age, blood samples were taken from the piglets of 11 litters five UN and six HET) and serum Immunoglobulin G (IgG) contents were determined. Mean CI/piglet/litter was similar in both groups, that is, 415 ± 13 in UN and 395 ± 13 g in HET (P = 0.28), but was less variable in UN litters (CV = 22.4 ± 2 vs 36.0 ± 2%, P < 0.001). The IgG levels at 2 days of age were higher in piglets from UN litters (22.5 ± 0.8 vs 18.4 ± 0.7 g/l; P < 0.001) but the CV of IgG levels was not different between litter type (P= 0.46). Mortality up to 21 days of age was lower in UN litters (6.4 vs 11.9%, P = 0.03). The BW at 21 days was not different between litter type (P = 0.25) but it was less variable among piglets from UN litters (CV: 17.1 ± 1.3 vs 25.7 ± 1.3%; P = 0.01). Results reveal that CI is less variable and mortality is lower in piglets from litters of UN birth weight. The results infer that genetic improvement to decrease variation in birth weight within-litter could have a positive effect on homogeneous CI and thus contribute to reducing piglet mortality.
Highlights
Pre-weaning mortality of piglets represents both welfare and an economic problem in the pig industry
Main results of this study show that litter homogenization, by cross-foresting since the end of the farrowing presents advantages both on colostrum intake variability and on pre-weaning survival
There was no difference between litter types (UN vs HET; P = 0.28) in CI but CI was more variable in HET litters (P < 0.001)
Summary
Pre-weaning mortality of piglets represents both welfare and an economic problem in the pig industry. Within-litter variation in BW0 is positively correlated with pre-weaning mortality (Milligan et al, 2002; Quiniou et al, 2002; Wolf et al, 2008) and variation in weaning weight (Milligan et al, 2002; Muns et al, 2014) When compared to their heavier litter-mates, the lighter piglets are at disadvantage with regard to access to the mammary glands. They consume less colostrum (Ferrari et al, 2014; Declerck et al, 2017; Le Dividich et al, 2017), leading to higher pre-weaning mortality rates (Muns et al, 2013; Charneca et al, 2015; Le Dividich et al, 2017; Zeng et al, 2019)
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