Abstract
Simple SummaryPiglet mortality is an ongoing concern for pig production worldwide. Piglets that have a low piglet birth weight (PBW), suffer from intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) or are born from litters with a high within-litter variation in PBW (CVPBW) have an increased risk of dying before weaning. IUGR piglets, CVPBW and a low PBW might be connected by the same risk factors, and in order to optimize fetal development in the litter, these risk factors should be identified. Free-access stall feeding, floor feeding and electronic sow feeding systems are commonly used feeding systems for gestating sows in Denmark. These systems differ in several points, including in sow competition at feeding. The nutritional status of the sow is important for fetal development, and so the feeding method during gestation is also expected to affect such development. Of the risk factors identified in this study, increasing litter size was considered the most critical. Only small differences were found between the feeding systems and these differed amongst groups. The results should inspire further investigation of those risk factors to clarify causes of the observed effects and what drives individual herd differences.This study aimed to identify risk factors affecting PBW, high CVPBW and the occurrence of IUGR piglets in 12 commercial Danish herds with hyperprolific sows using free-access stalls, floor or electronic sow feeding systems in the gestation unit. The following factors were investigated: the duration of previous lactation, the length of the interval from weaning to insemination, the length of gestation, litter size, parity, sow backfat thickness in late gestation and the type of feeding system in the gestation unit. The study included newborn piglets from 452 litters with the following production indicator averages: 21.3 piglets/L, 1235 g PBW, 22.9% CVPBW and 10.9% and 11.8% within-litter occurrence of severe and mild IUGR piglets, respectively. Increasing length of weaning-to-insemination interval decreased PBW by 25.8 g/day. For 2nd to 9th parity sows, each additional piglet in the litter increased CVPBW by 0.38%, the occurrence of severe IUGR piglets by 0.68% and mild IUGR piglets by 0.50%. Sows of 5th parity and older had a 1.39% higher CVPBW and 49.1 g lighter piglets compared with sows of 2nd to 4th parity. PBW was lower in one ESF herd, suggesting complex interactions that need to be further elucidated. The main critical risk factor observed was litter size.
Highlights
Over the years, Danish pig production has become more efficient, with a remarkable increase in litter size from 11.8 total born piglets/litter in 1992 to 19.6 total born piglets/litter in 2020 [1]
Previous studies have shown that CVPBW is negatively affected by a weaning-to-insemination interval (WII) of less than eight days, when compared to above 21 days [7], while litter size is affected by the length of the previous lactation [8,9,10]
11.0% of the piglets were defined as severe IUGR (sIUGR), with an average weight of 699 ± 141 g ranging from 290 g to 1025 g, 11.5% were defined as mild IUGR (mIUGR), with an average weight of 905 ± 94 g ranging from 535 g to 1100 g, and 75.5% were defined as normal, with an average weight of 1357 ± 265 g ranging from 610 g to 2910 g
Summary
Danish pig production has become more efficient, with a remarkable increase in litter size from 11.8 total born piglets/litter in 1992 to 19.6 total born piglets/litter in 2020 [1]. Previous studies have shown that CVPBW is negatively affected by a weaning-to-insemination interval (WII) of less than eight days, when compared to above 21 days [7], while litter size is affected by the length of the previous lactation [8,9,10] This indicates that litter development depends on the quality of follicles, which, in turn, is defined during the period prior to insemination. It remains unknown if follicles are affected by different lengths of WII within the first follicular phase after weaning, or if the length of lactation affects PBW, CVPBW and the occurrence of IUGR in the subsequent litter
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