Dominique M. Sommer , Jennifer M. Young , Xin Sun , Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez , Christopher J. Byrd
{"title":"The effect of social hierarchy on short-term group-housed sow gestation and reproductive performance","authors":"Dominique M. Sommer , Jennifer M. Young , Xin Sun , Giancarlo Lopez-Martinez , Christopher J. Byrd","doi":"10.1016/j.livsci.2024.105591","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The objective of this study was to determine whether group-housed sow social rank has an effect on sow gestation and reproductive performance. Forty-nine sows with previous group housing experience were enrolled in the study, housed in 1 of 3 pens over five repetitions, and allocated to 1 of 4 social hierarchy rank quartiles (RQ) based on their aggressive interactions immediately after weaning and reintroduction to group housing. Sows in RQ1 were ranked highest within the group, followed by RQ2, RQ3, and RQ4 sows, who were ranked lowest within the group. All sows were confirmed pregnant and underwent body condition scoring (BCS) and backfat depth (BF) measurement on experimental d -7 (before gestation group housing), 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 105 of gestation. Following the gestation period, farrowing, nursing period, and weaning performance were measured for each of the enrolled sows. Rank quartile had no effect on BCS or BF (<em>P</em> > 0.05). There tended (<em>P</em> = 0.08) to be an effect of RQ on the number of mummies produced, with RQ4 sows producing a greater number of mummies compared to RQ1 (<em>P</em> = 0.02), RQ2 (<em>P</em> = 0.04), and RQ3 (<em>P</em> = 0.03) sows. No other effects of RQ were observed for farrowing, nursing period, or weaning performance (<em>P</em> > 0.05). Taken together, these results indicate that RQ (at least in the short term) has little effect on gestational and reproductive performance of sows housed in groups during gestation.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":18152,"journal":{"name":"Livestock Science","volume":"290 ","pages":"Article 105591"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Livestock Science","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1871141324001975","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"AGRICULTURE, DAIRY & ANIMAL SCIENCE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The objective of this study was to determine whether group-housed sow social rank has an effect on sow gestation and reproductive performance. Forty-nine sows with previous group housing experience were enrolled in the study, housed in 1 of 3 pens over five repetitions, and allocated to 1 of 4 social hierarchy rank quartiles (RQ) based on their aggressive interactions immediately after weaning and reintroduction to group housing. Sows in RQ1 were ranked highest within the group, followed by RQ2, RQ3, and RQ4 sows, who were ranked lowest within the group. All sows were confirmed pregnant and underwent body condition scoring (BCS) and backfat depth (BF) measurement on experimental d -7 (before gestation group housing), 15, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, and 105 of gestation. Following the gestation period, farrowing, nursing period, and weaning performance were measured for each of the enrolled sows. Rank quartile had no effect on BCS or BF (P > 0.05). There tended (P = 0.08) to be an effect of RQ on the number of mummies produced, with RQ4 sows producing a greater number of mummies compared to RQ1 (P = 0.02), RQ2 (P = 0.04), and RQ3 (P = 0.03) sows. No other effects of RQ were observed for farrowing, nursing period, or weaning performance (P > 0.05). Taken together, these results indicate that RQ (at least in the short term) has little effect on gestational and reproductive performance of sows housed in groups during gestation.
期刊介绍:
Livestock Science promotes the sound development of the livestock sector by publishing original, peer-reviewed research and review articles covering all aspects of this broad field. The journal welcomes submissions on the avant-garde areas of animal genetics, breeding, growth, reproduction, nutrition, physiology, and behaviour in addition to genetic resources, welfare, ethics, health, management and production systems. The high-quality content of this journal reflects the truly international nature of this broad area of research.