Relationship between litter size and perinatal and pre-weaning survival in pigs

Lund, Mogens Sandø; Puonti, Matti; Rydhmer, Lotta; Jensen, Just

doi:10.1017/s1357729800052383

Cited by 95 publications

(98 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Several studies have included the direct additive genetic effect of the piglet in the analysis on piglet survival. At the litter level, Lund et al (2002) reported a direct heritability of 0.01 for survival at birth and 0.04 for survival from birth to weaning in Landrace, while the respective estimates were 0.05 and 0.02 in Yorkshire. Based on litter records using a linear Gaussian model, Su et al (2007) estimated direct heritability at the litter level to be 0.108, 0.136 and 0.024 in Landrace and 0.008, 0.064 and 0.024 in Yorkshire for SVB, SV5 and SVW, respectively.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

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Variance and covariance components for liability of piglet survival during different periods

Sörensen

Lund

2008

Animal

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Variance and covariance components for piglet survival in different periods were estimated from individual records of 133 004 Danish Landrace piglets and 89 928 Danish Yorkshire piglets, using a liability threshold model including both direct and maternal additive genetic effects. At the individual piglet level, the estimates of direct heritability in Landrace were 0.035, 0.057 and 0.027, and in Yorkshire the estimates were 0.012, 0.030 and 0.025 for liability of survival at farrowing (SVB), from birth to day 5 (SV5) and from day 6 to weaning (SVW), respectively. The estimates of maternal heritability for SVB, SV5 and SVW were, respectively, 0.057, 0.040 and 0.030 in Landrace, and 0.050, 0.038 and 0.019 in Yorkshire. Both direct and maternal genetic correlations between the three survival traits were low and not significantly different from zero, except for a moderate direct genetic correlation between SVB and SV5 and between SV5 and SVW in Landrace. Direct and maternal genetic correlations between piglet birth weight (BW) and SV5 were moderately high, but the correlations between BW and SVB and between BW and SVW were low and most of them were not significantly different from zero. These results suggest that effective genetic improvement in piglet survival before weaning by selection should be based on both direct and maternal additive genetic effects and treat survival in different periods as different traits.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Some studies (e.g. Van Arendonk et al, 1996;Lund et al, 2002;Arango et al, 2006) have reported that there is a direct additive genetic effect on piglet survival. It indicates that the genotypes of both sow and piglet contribute to piglet survival.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variance and covariance components for liability of piglet survival during different periods

Sörensen

Lund

2008

Animal

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“…As a result, the total number of piglets at birth has been significantly improved in past decades (Southwood and Kennedy, 1991;Estany and Sorensen, 1995). However, this practice has also increased the neonatal mortality of piglets owing to the increased percentage of low-birth-weight pigs (Lund et al, 2002). To avoid this situation, scientists have started to test whether litter size at Day 5 (LS5) after birth can be used to reduce the neonatal mortality while not decreasing the litter size at birth.…”

Section: Genetic Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Within-litter variation in birth weight: impact of nutritional status in the sow

Yuan

Zhu

Shi

et al. 2015

J. Zhejiang Univ. Sci. B

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Accompanying the beneficial improvement in litter size from genetic selection for high-prolificacy sows, within-litter variation in birth weight has increased with detrimental effects on post-natal growth and survival due to an increase in the proportion of piglets with low birth-weight. Causes of within-litter variation in birth weight include breed characteristics that affect uterine space, ovulation rate, degree of maturation of oocytes, duration of time required for ovulation, interval between ovulation and fertilization, uterine capacity for implantation and placentation, size and efficiency of placental transport of nutrients, communication between conceptus/fetus and maternal systems, as well as nutritional status and environmental influences during gestation. Because these factors contribute to within-litter variation in birth weight, nutritional status of the sow to improve fetal-placental development must focus on the following three important stages in the reproductive cycle: pre-mating or weaning to estrus, early gestation and late gestation. The goal is to increase the homogeneity of development of oocytes and conceptuses, decrease variations in conceptus development during implantation and placentation, and improve birth weights of newborn piglets. Though some progress has been made in nutritional regulation of within-litter variation in the birth weight of piglets, additional studies, with a focus on and insights into molecular mechanisms of reproductive physiology from the aspects of maternal growth and offspring development, as well as their regulation by nutrients provided to the sow, are urgently needed.

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“…Thus, various authors observed an increased within-litter variation in piglet birth weight and a decrease in average birth weight of the litter, because of the genetic selection for litter size (Lund et al, 2002;Tribout et al, 2003;Foxcroft, 2008;Quesnel et al, 2008). A higher number of fetuses exceeding the uterine capacity have been related to piglets with limited number of muscle fibers, which results in a compromised fetal growth and development (Foxcroft et al, 2006).…”

Section: Causes Of Within-litter Birth Weight Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of sow nutrition during gestation on within-litter birth weight variation: a review

Campos

Silva²,

Donzele

et al. 2012

Animal

118

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The increasing demand for efficiency in pork production requires great specialization of all sectors involved in this activity. In this context, the development of strategies that could reduce undesirable traits related with negative effects on piglet survival and postnatal growth and development are essential for the pig industry. Currently, special attention is given to variation in birth weight, as some evidences suggest an increased within-litter birth weight variation in modern sows. This variation has been shown to be associated with preweaning mortality, variable weights at weaning and deteriorated growth performance, which results in economic losses and lower efficiency. Therefore, understanding the factors that can influence the events that occur during gestation and that have an impact on the fetal growth and development are important to achieve better efficiency and also to develop strategies that can be used to achieve increased within-litter uniformity of piglet birth weight. This study concludes that even at a given placental size, fetal growth may vary because of differences in placental vascularization and efficiency. Feeding extra feed or energy during late gestation only marginally improves birth weight, and positive effects are not consistent between different studies. The detrimental effects of protein restriction on fetal growth during early gestation may be due to altered placental and endometrial angiogenesis and growth, which leads to a reduction in placental-fetal blood flow, nutrient supply from mother to the fetuses and ultimately to fetal growth retardation. The number of studies that attempted to influence within-litter birth weight variation by means of sow nutrition during gestation is limited. Therefore, more research concerning sow nutrition during gestation associated with the provision of balanced diets to meet requirements of the sows and fetuses are still required. This knowledge may subsequently provide starting points for the design of nutritional strategies that can influence within-litter birth variation.

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Relationship between litter size and perinatal and pre-weaning survival in pigs

Cited by 95 publications

References 16 publications

Variance and covariance components for liability of piglet survival during different periods

Variance and covariance components for liability of piglet survival during different periods

Within-litter variation in birth weight: impact of nutritional status in the sow

Effects of sow nutrition during gestation on within-litter birth weight variation: a review

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