Abstract
Abstract. The aim of the study was to analyse the sex ratio of American mink litters in relation to dam's age, gestation length, and time interval between the first and second mating. The observations were carried out on a mink farm located in northern Poland. The analysis involved litters of 207 females, aged 1 (n=107) and 2 years (n=100), which successfully raised all the born kits. The sex of the offspring was identified on weaning. The kits were assigned to groups according to their dam's gestation length, mating date, and first-to-second mating interval. It was found that female kits quantitatively predominated over male offspring. Longer pregnancies, delayed mating time, and greater interval between the first and second mating was accompanied by a higher number of female births in relation to male births.
Highlights
Since the mink is a monoestrous species with a pregnancy characterized by embryonic diapause, breeding season is the most demanding time of the year on a production farm both in terms of animal nutrition and human labour
The literature basically lacks reports on sex ratios in herds of farmed American mink, such information is important for planning prospective cage allocation after weaning
The analysis revealed that generally more females were born than males
Summary
Since the mink is a monoestrous species with a pregnancy characterized by embryonic diapause, breeding season is the most demanding time of the year on a production farm both in terms of animal nutrition and human labour. Both planning and implementation of mating design schemes aim to achieve litters as large and strong as possible. The literature basically lacks reports on sex ratios in herds of farmed American mink, such information is important for planning prospective cage allocation after weaning. The wild population of the European polecat has been reported to consist of more males than females (Brzesinski et al, 1992; Barrientos, 2015)
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