Effects of Direct Additive and Direct Dominance on Litter Traits in Crossbred Sows between Danish Yorkshire and Danish Landrace Pigs in Vietnam

Background: The objectives of this study were to estimate the effects of direct additive and dominance on litter traits and to predict the reproduction of un-tested crossbred sows between Danish Yorkshire (Y) and Danish Landrace (L) pigs in Vietnam. Methods: Litter traits data were obtained between 2014 and 2017 in Binh Thang and Khang Minh An breeding farms, with 671 litters of crossbred sows crossed from 1,308 litters of purebred Yorkshire and Landrace sows. Result: In F1 sows, heterosis was manifested in all traits with 6.7-6.4% for TNB; 5.4-6.2% for NBA; 4.4-4.8% for NW and 5.7-6.0% for AWW traits. Additionally, direct dominance was the most positive effect on litter traits in crossbred sows. In rotational crossbred sows of L (YL) and L (LY), while the value of litter traits remarkably decreased in comparison with F1 groups, it was a noticeably higher than that of the purebred sows by 1.4-3.0%. In un-tested crossbred groups of Y (YL) and Y (LY), predicted values for litter traits were equal in tested crossbred groups of L (YL) and L (LY) and lower than F1 crossbred sows.

L-Arginine Supplementation for Nulliparous Sows during the Last Third of Gestation

We evaluated the effects of L-arginine supplementation during the last third of gestation on molecular mechanisms related to skeletal muscle development of piglets and litter traits at birth. Twenty-three nulliparous sows averaging 205.37 ± 11.50 kg of body weight were randomly assigned to the following experimental treatments: control (CON), where pregnant sows were fed diets to meet their nutritional requirements; arginine (ARG), where sows where fed CON + 1.0% L-arginine. Skeletal muscle from piglets born from sows from ARG group had greater mRNA expression of MYOD (p = 0.043) and MYOG (p ≤ 0.01), and tended to present greater mRNA expression (p = 0.06) of IGF-2 gene compared to those born from CON sows. However, there were no differences (p > 0.05) in the histomorphometric variables of fetuses’ skeletal muscle. The total weight of born piglets, total weight of born alive piglets, piglet weight at birth, coefficient of variation of birth weight, and the incidence of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) piglets did not differ between groups. No stillborn piglets (p < 0.01) were verified in the ARG sows compared to CON group. The blood levels of estradiol (p = 0.035) and urea (p = 0.03) were higher in ARG sows compared to those from the CON group. In summary, our data show that arginine supplementation of nulliparous sows at late gestation enhance mRNA expression of key myogenic regulatory factors, which likely contribute to improve animal growth rates in later stages of development.

Litterfall Chemistry Is Modulated by Wet-Dry Seasonality and Leaf Phenology of Dominant Species in the Tropics

Litterfall has a large influence on carbon and nutrient cycling of ecosystems, particularly in light-limited forested streams, as most nutrients return in the form of litter. Although recent evidence points to the prevalence of seasonal litterfall in species-rich and evergreen tropical riparian forests, there is a limited understanding of how riparian plant diversity intersects with stream and riparian ecosystem functions. To explore this question, we investigate litterfall chemistry across wet and dry seasons and the congruence between litter traits and plant species composition of litterfall in the wet-dry tropics. Using generalized additive models, we observed consistent seasonal patterns of litterfall chemistry over 2 years, mostly influenced by dominant species in litterfall. While drier seasons showed litter lower in nutrients and structural compounds and higher in polyphenols, litter from wetter seasons were nutrient rich but lower in polyphenols. We also found contrasting seasonal patterns in litterfall chemistry, one showing that litterfall nutrient, structural compounds, and secondary metabolite concentrations declined in drier seasons while the other showed that mass-based litterfall inputs increased markedly in drier seasons. Our findings suggest that litterfall chemistry may be altered by shifts in the identity of dominant plant species and seasonality, possibly leading to changes in carbon and nutrient fluxes in tropical riparian ecosystems.

A Review Article on Effect of Parity on Litter Traits of Goat

Goat rearing is one of the popular professions of people in the world. Maintenance of productive herds for overall productivity is important from an economic point of view for farmers. Along with the improvement of reproductive and productive performance, improvement of litter traits is also important for generating more profits from goat farming. This is the review paper prepared with the help of many collected scientific papers from journals, research papers, proceedings, annual reports, master, and Postgraduate thesis. This review paper illustrates the effect of parity as a non-genetic/environmental factor on litter traits of goat-like litter size at birth and weaning, litter weight at birth and weaning, and Pre-weaning Kids survivability based upon the finding of the previous papers. The finding of this paper focuses on the improvement of litter traits of goat that is possible with proper breeding programs, selection, and culling of an unproductive doe from the herd.

287 Effects of Number of Sperm and Site of Uterine Semen Deposition on Conception Rate and Number of Embryos in Weaned Sows Receiving a Single Fixed Time Insemination

Induced ovulation with single fixed time artificial insemination (SFTAI), combined with uterine (IUI) or deep uterine insemination (DUI), could improve fertility with low numbers of sperm and allow greater use of high genetic merit boars. At weaning (0 h), sows (n = 534) were assigned by parity and estrus induction method (eCG or Control) to receive 1200 × 106 sperm by IUI, 600, 300, or 150 × 106 sperm by IUI or DUI, or 75 × 106 sperm by DUI. At 80 h post weaning, sows received OvuGel and 26 h later a pooled semen SFTAI. Ultrasound was performed to determine follicle size and time of ovulation (OV). Sows were slaughtered 27 d after AI to determine pregnancy and litter traits. There was no effect (P &gt; 0.05) of eCG on estrus (93%) within 5 d of weaning or follicle size (6.1 mm) at OvuGel, but wean-to-estrus (3.8 vs. 4.0 d,P &lt; 0.01) and AI-to-OV (15.9 vs. 17.0 h, P = 0.04) intervals and AI-to OV were slightly reduced. eCG did not affect pregnancy rate (78.6%), number of CL (21.7), or number of viable embryos (12.2). There was no effect of number of sperm or site of insemination (P &gt; 0.05) on pregnancy rate (range: 80.9% to 70.5%), but AI occurring after ovulation reduced pregnancy rate (P &lt; 0.02). Total number of embryos (range: 16.5 to 10.3) increased with CL number (P &lt; 0.001) but was not affected by number of sperm or site of insemination (P &gt; 0.05). Higher sperm treatments (1200 and 600 x 106) had more embryos compared to lower sperm treatments (P &lt; 0.01), suggesting that lower sperm numbers effects litter size more than the pregnancy status. Acceptable fertility can be achieved with low sperm numbers when using SFTAI and uterine deposition, but AI-to-OV interval and ovulation rate influence final fertility.

Maternal Supplementation with Herbal Antioxidants during Pregnancy in Swine

The effects of a combined supplementation with herbal antioxidants during pregnancy on reproductive traits and piglet performance (number of live, dead, and mummified newborns and litter weight at birth and individual body weight at both birth and weaning) were assessed in a total of 1027 sows (504 treated and 523 control females) kept under commercial breeding conditions. The supplementation increased the number of live-born piglets (13.64 ± 0.11 vs. 12.96 ± 0.13 in the controls; p = 0.001) and the total litter weight, decreasing the incidence of low-weight piglets without affecting the number of stillbirths and mummified newborns. Such an effect was modulated by the number of parity and the supplementation, with supplementation increasing significantly the number of living newborns in the first, second, sixth, and seventh parities (0.87, 1.10, 1.49, and 2.51 additional piglets, respectively; p < 0.05). The evaluation of plasma vitamin concentration and biomarkers of oxidative stress (total antioxidant capacity, TAC, and malondialdehyde concentration, MDA) performed in a subset of farrowing sows and their lighter and heavier piglets showed that plasma levels of both vitamins were significantly higher in the piglets than in their mothers (p < 0.05 for vitamin C and p < 0.005 for vitamin E), with antioxidant supplementation increasing significantly such concentrations. Concomitantly, there were no differences in maternal TAC but significantly higher values in piglets from supplemented sows (p < 0.05). On the other hand, supplementation decreased plasma MDA levels both in the sows and their piglets (p < 0.05). Finally, the piglets from supplemented mothers showed a trend for a higher weaning weight (p = 0.066) and, specifically, piglets with birth weights above 1 kg showed a 7.4% higher weaning weight (p = 0.024). Hence, the results of the present study, with high robustness and translational value by offering data from more than 1000 pregnancies under standard breeding conditions, supports that maternal supplementation with herbal antioxidants during pregnancy significantly improves reproductive efficiency, litter traits, and piglet performance.