Reproductive peculiarities of sows mini-pigs of the institute of Cytology and Genetics of the SB RAS from different families

Abstract

The relevance of this work lies in the lack of information in the scientific literature on the existence of differences between sow families in herds of laboratory mini-pigs. The study aims to establish whether or not there are differences between the reproductive traits of the sows of the mini-sows of IC&G SB RAS. The following criteria were selected as difference criteria: newborn piglet weight, piglet weight at one month of age, sow weight on day 5 after farrowing, number of piglets in the nest, and their survival from 0 to 30 and from 6 to 30 days of age. The study was based on the zootechnical record of the mini-pigs of the IGCC SB RAS (2013– 2020), which included information on 2315 newborn and 622-month-old piglets from 311 clutches of 135 sows of different ages. The genealogical structure of the herd is represented by three families: KB1902, KB1906, and KB1910. The study showed differences between all three families in terms of newborn piglet weight, as evidenced by the Kruskal-Wallis test (57.57***). The authors found no differences in the age composition of the sows, their multiple births, and the survival of the offspring. For piglet weight at one month of age and sow weight at day 5 post farrowing, establishing the validity of the differences must be further tested. The trait ranking showed that in the progeny of sows KB1902 and KB1906 the predominant sows had a live weight of 601–700g, but in the KB1910 family, the progeny had a live weight of 701–800g. The main reason for the differences between sow families in terms of largeness appears to be heredity.