Effect of litter size on the variation in birth and weaning weights of Landrace piglets

• Published in: Boletim de Indústria Animal Vol. 73; no. 1; pp. 39 - 45
• Main Authors: Camila Duarte Prazeres, Renato Irgang, Márcio Cinachi Pereira, Lucélia Hauptli, Gustavo Parizotto Santian, Josiane Trevisol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Portuguese
• Published: Instituto de Zootecnia 01-03-2016
• Subjects: correlação; crescimento; prolificidade; suíno; variância
• DOI: 10.17523/bia.v73n1p39
• EISSN: 1981-4100

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the size class of the litter at birth on the variation in birth and weaning weights and on the survival rate of piglets from birth to weaning. For this purpose, records of individual weight at birth and weaning of piglets obtained from a database of 295 Landrace litters born between 2000 and 2010 on a pig farm in the western region of the State of Paraná were used. The litters were classified as small (up to 7 piglets), medium (8 to 13 piglets), and large (> 14 piglets) according to the total number of piglets born. The data were analyzed considering the effects of the year of sow mating and size class of the litter at birth. The correlations between mean weight and variance in litter weight and size were higher for medium and large litters. The size class of the litter significantly influenced the mean weight of piglets at birth and weaning and the variance in birth weight. Piglets born in medium and large litters weighed less and exhibited greater birth weight variation and a lower survival rate until weaning than piglets born in small litters.