Agriculture, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK.
J Anim Sci. 2019 Apr 3;97(4):1656-1670. doi: 10.1093/jas/skz062.
To improve the performance of lightweight piglets during suckling, producers are advised to create uniform litters using young sows. However, fostering piglets to primiparous sows may confer penalties due to their lower milk yield and milk immunoglobulin concentrations compared with multiparous sows. The objective was to determine the effect of foster sow parity (primiparous (F), second (S), and mid parity (M: parity 3 to 5)) on the performance from birth to day 68 of piglets born light (L: ≤1.25 kg) or heavy (H: 1.50-2.00 kg) and on creep feed consumption. Piglets (n = 507) considered L or H were cross-fostered, creating litters of 13 similar-sized piglets/litter and were randomly fostered to one of the foster parities. All litters were offered creep feed with a green dye to discern between consumers and nonconsumers, and the medication administered was recorded. Medication administrated pre- and postweaning did not differ (P > 0.05) across the different experimental groups. A significantly (P ≤ 0.025) lower number of H piglets were removed as a result of preweaning weight loss from F and S, rather than M litters. The interaction between birth weight and foster parity only affected piglet BW at day 10 (P = 0.020); foster parity did not influence BW of L piglets, but influenced that of H piglets. H piglets in F and M litters (3.82 and 3.80 kg) were significantly lighter (P ≤ 0.013) than H piglets in S litters (4.15 kg). As expected, L piglets performed worse pre- and postweaning than H piglets; they were 4.50 kg lighter at day 68. Foster parity significantly affected BW: F piglets were weaned lighter (P = 0.004) than S and M piglets (7.52 vs. 8.02 kg). Postweaning (day 68) however, F piglets achieved similar BW as S piglets (29.7 vs. 29.9 kg), whereas M piglets performed best (31.2 kg, P ≤ 0.079). Significantly fewer (almost none) of the L than the H piglets consumed creep feed (P < 0.001); significantly (P = 0.007) more F and M piglets were considered consumers than S piglets. The results suggest that irrespectively of birth weight, piglets tend to perform better when in M litters, being weaned heavy and having a high creep feed intake; however, more piglets are removed from such litters preweaning. Although S litters were weaned heavy, they were unable to maintain this BW advantage postweaning, due to their low creep feed intake and F litters remained small throughout. Long-term performance monitoring to slaughter is recommended.
为了提高哺乳期仔猪的性能,建议生产者使用年轻母猪来创建均匀的产仔。然而,将仔猪寄养给初产母猪可能会带来不利影响,因为与经产母猪相比,它们的产奶量和乳免疫球蛋白浓度较低。本研究旨在确定寄养母猪的胎次(初产母猪(F)、第二胎(S)和经产母猪(M:胎次 3 至 5))对出生至 68 日龄轻体重(L:≤1.25kg)或重体重(H:1.50-2.00kg)仔猪性能的影响,以及对开食料采食量的影响。考虑到轻体重(L)或重体重(H)的仔猪被交叉寄养,每个产仔箱中放入 13 头大小相似的仔猪,并随机寄养到其中一个寄养胎次。所有产仔箱都提供了含有绿色染料的开食料,以便区分采食者和非采食者,并记录用药情况。预断奶和断奶后的用药没有差异(P>0.05)。由于 F 和 S 仔猪的断奶前体重损失,而非 M 仔猪,更多的 H 仔猪被淘汰。初生体重和寄养胎次之间的相互作用仅影响仔猪在第 10 天的 BW(P=0.020);寄养胎次不影响 L 仔猪的 BW,但影响 H 仔猪的 BW。F 和 M 仔猪(3.82 和 3.80kg)的 BW显著低于 S 仔猪(4.15kg)(P≤0.013)。正如预期的那样,L 仔猪的断奶前和断奶后表现均不如 H 仔猪;它们在第 68 天的体重轻 4.50kg。寄养胎次显著影响 BW:F 仔猪的断奶体重比 S 和 M 仔猪轻(P=0.004)(7.52kg 比 8.02kg)。然而,断奶后(第 68 天),F 仔猪的 BW 与 S 仔猪相似(29.7kg 比 29.9kg),而 M 仔猪的表现最好(31.2kg,P≤0.079)。与 H 仔猪相比,L 仔猪采食开食料的比例明显较低(P<0.001);F 和 M 仔猪被认为是采食者的比例显著高于 S 仔猪(P=0.007)。结果表明,无论出生体重如何,仔猪在 M 仔猪中表现更好,断奶体重较大,开食料采食量较高;然而,更多的仔猪在这种产仔箱中被提前淘汰。尽管 S 仔猪的断奶体重较大,但由于其开食料采食量较低,无法保持这一 BW 优势,而 F 仔猪的体重一直较小。建议进行长期的性能监测,直至屠宰。