Comparative and seasonal variation in some reproductive parameters in pigs of mixed breeds

Abstract

Pigs have a high potential to contribute greatly to economic gain in that, among other reasons, they have high fecundity and high feed conversion efficiency rate. The effect of season on reproductive performance of male and female mixed breeds of pigs was investigated in this study. Eighteen sexually healthy sows that were equally grouped into two based on season were used in this study. Group A: (rainy season) and Group B: (dry season). The gestation length, litter size, sex ratio, birth weight and neonatal mortality were determined and correlated with parity of the sows. Gestation length of Sows for Groups A and B were not significantly different (p>0.05) from each other. The mean litter size for Groups A and B were approximately 6.44 ± 0.973 and 6.00 ± 0.782, respectively. However, there was no variation in the dispersion of the male offspring in Groups A and B but there was non-significant increase (p>0.05) in the mean value of female offspring in Group A as compared to Group B. Conversely, the mean value of sex ratio in Group A was nonsignificantly reduced (p>0.05) as compared to Group B. The mean birth weights of the male and female piglets in Group B were non-significantly elevated (p>0.05) as compared to Group A. The mean value of neonatal mortality observed in Group A was non-significantly elevated (p>0.05) as compared to Group B. The litter size of piglets in the third parity was non-significantly elevated (p>0.05) as compared to the second parity moreover, the birth weight of the piglets in the third parity was increased non-significantly (p>0.05) than the second parity. In conclusion, season could have significant effect on the reproductive performance of mixed breed pigs under the intensive system of management.

Keywords: Pigs, Season, Reproductive performance