Impact of litter size, supplementary milk replacer and housing on the body composition of piglets from hyper-prolific sows at weaning

Body reserves are important in reproduction because they can be used by the sow to buffer the nutritional stress through a low intake of food in lactation (Mullan and Williams, 1988). Quantitative information on the body composition of first-litter sows during lactation is clearly required to establish what body reserves are mobilized during lactation, and how this relates to subsequent reproductive performance. The aim of this study was to quantify the body reserves of first-litter sows at farrowing and to measure the change in these reserves during lactation.Animals selected for body composition studies were from the High-High, High-Low, Low-High and Low-Low groups of an experiment described by Mullan and Williams (1988). Animals were selected according to bodyweight, depth of backfat and litter size, with the object to have animals that were representative of those in the earlier experiment. Sows were removed from their litter, weighed and the depth of backfat measured by ultrasound at the P2. Within three hours of weaning animals were slaughtered and the head, trotters, tail, viscera one side of the carcass were frozen, minced and chemically analysed for lipid, protein, water and ash.

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Ewe Milk Replacer Diets for Young Lambs. III. Effect of Age of Lambs and Dietary Protein and Fat Levels on the Body Composition of Young Lambs1

Journal of Animal Science ◽

10.2527/jas1973.363607x ◽

1973 ◽

Vol 36 (3) ◽

pp. 607-612 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Peter W. S. Chiou ◽

R. M. Jordan

Keyword(s):

Body Composition ◽

Dietary Protein ◽

The Body ◽

Milk Replacer ◽

Effect Of Age

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Einfluss des nach der TOBEC-Methode bestimmten Fettgehaltes bei Kaninchen auf die Wurfleistungen und die Körperzusammensetzung der Nachkommen

Archives Animal Breeding ◽

10.5194/aab-45-403-2002 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 45 (4) ◽

pp. 403-411

Author(s):

A. Lévai ◽

G. Milisits

Keyword(s):

Body Composition ◽

Litter Size ◽

Body Fat ◽

Small Animal ◽

Live Weight ◽

Abdominal Fat ◽

Fat Content ◽

The Body ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Body Fat Content

Abstract. Title of the paper: Effect of selection on body fat content by means of the TOBEC method on some reproductive traits of rabbit does and on the body composition of growing rabbits In this experiment body fat content of Pannon White growing rabbits was determined at 10 weeks of age using an EM-SCAN SA-3152 type Small Animal Body Composition Analyser (TOBEC method). Based on the fat content determined the best and worst 16% of the does and the best and worst 8% of the bucks were chosen and mated with each other (fatty doe with fatty buck and lean doe with lean buck). It was found that the conception rate was significantly higher and the number of inseminations needed for the second kindling significantly lower in the case of fatty rabbits. An important, but not significant difference was observed in the case of total litter size at birth, which decreased in the case of live born litter size. This reason was the significantly higher ratio of the dead born pups in the case of non-fatty rabbits. Due to the higher ratio of total litter loss and suckling mortality in the case of fatty rabbits the litter size at 21 days differed notably, but again not significantly. In the offsprings of the F1 generation it was found that the fat content estimated and also the ratio of scapular and abdominal fat to the live weight calculated differed significantly (P < 0.05) from each other in the two experimental groups. The estimated fat content was 42% higher in the offsprings of fatty than in the offsprings of non-fatty rabbits. The differences in the ratio of the scapular and abdominal fat content to the live weight were 26% and 51%, respectively.

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