Explore all the information onSwine genetics and reproduction
The performance of pigs is the result of two influences: genetics and environment. Because the genetics of a pig plays an important role in its performance and meat quality, all pig producers should be familiar with the potential and application of genetic selection.
The genetic potential of pigs can have a major influence on the productivity and profitability of a pig enterprise. It is the combination of genetics, nutrition, health, environment and management that influences such factors as litter size, growth rates and carcass quality.
The reproductive herd is for the multiplication of maternal and paternal lines that are prized for economically valuable reproductive traits, or, traits that generate desirable offspring reliably. Typically, prized reproductive traits include litter size, particularly total number of pigs born, and pigs weaned, weight of the litter of piglets at birth and weaning, wean-to-estrus interval (WEI), and pigs per sow per year (PSY). In more recent years, length of time a sow remains productive in the herd (longevity or survivability) is increasing in priority for major genetic lines. These traits are prioritized due to the impact on value of the sow to the herd.
Introduction: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), caused by PRRS virus (PRRSV), is a major threat to the swine industry worldwide. The genome of PRRSV is characteristic of its extensive genetic variation, resulting in the complexity of not only genotype but strain diversity. In China, the distribution and ranks of the different PRRSV strains remain unknown in the swine herds although classical, high pathogenic (HP-) and novel variant PRRSVs co-exist. This study...
Introduction: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), caused by PRRS virus (PRRSV), still engenders immense economic losses to the swine industry worldwide. The co-existence of multi–type stains, rapid evolutionary rate and possible recombination of PRRSV lead to increased genetic diversity. Here we report the important recombination of 3 Chinese PRRSV strains collected during 2013-2015. Materials and Methods: Full-length genome of four...
Introduction: Genotype 1 porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (European type PRRSV) has been rampant and resulted in extensive economic loss throughout Korea since the virus was first detected in 2005. Nevertheless, molecular analysis of EU genotype PRRSV has been limited to ORF5 and/or ORF7. Here, we determined the positive rates of EU PRRSV in Korea and molecular analysis of ORF4-6 sequences of Korean genotype 1 PRRSV. Materials and Methods: A...
Introduction: Work Package 5 of the Prohealth consortium aims to identify molecular markers that are associated with poor production in pigs. Microarrays are a powerful tool which will enable us to determine which genes in the affected tissues are up- or down-regulated as a result of the farm environmental condition. The application of software analysis packages such as GeneSpring will allow us to locate and pinpoint these genes to particular physiological or immunological...
Introduction: Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is a swine respiratory pathogen that leads to compromised animal welfare and economic losses in finishing pigs. The lung infection can last up to 7 months and infected animals can become asymptomatic carries capable of infecting other pigs. The pathogen is mainly transmitted by direct contact, and vertical transmission is recognized as risk factor for prevalence of M. hyopneumoniae at weaning. It is known that colonized...
Introduction: A genetic reassortment of influenza viruses of different hosts is an important mechanism for overcome the species barrier. Therefore the aim of this study was to define the percentage of reassortants and their gene constellation after co-infection of pigs with 2 influenza virus strains of different subtype and origin. Materials and Methods: Six pigs were intranasally inoculated with A/Swine/Gent/172/08 (H3N2) and A/Duck/Italy/1447/05 (H1N1)...
Mike Tokach (Kansas State University) talks about sow body condition and its effect on reproductive performance, during the Nutrimas workshop....
Mike Tokach (Kansas State University) explains how to remove costs by reviewing amino acids and energy levels, and the close relation between genetics and nutrition, during the Nutrimas workshop....
Introduction: Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) is a devastating viral disease affecting swine industry worldwide. Innate immune response to PRRS virus (PRRSV) infection varies among pig breeds. Elucidating the role of host genetics in the variation of PRRSV vaccine responsiveness may lead to characterize the host immunocompetence and thereby resistance to PRRS. Therefore, the current study aimed to investigate the breed difference in innate immune response to...
Introduction: Porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is a highly contagious disease caused by porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) infection, characterized by watery diarrhea, vomiting, dehydration, and weight loss in swine (1). PEDV has an enveloped, single-stranded, positive-sense RNA genome of ≈28 kb, belongs to the order Nidovirale, the family Coronaviridae, genus Alphacoronavirus (1). PEDV was adapted to serial propagation in Vero cell cultures by adding trypsin to...
Bruno Silva (Professor and Researcher, Federal University of Minas Gerais) shares his practical experience in sow productivity, gestation, lactation, and transition diets, in this Engormix interview....
Introduction: Vesicular disease has been described recently in Brazil and was associated to Seneca Valley virus (SVV). The clinical presentations were characterized by vesicular lesions in sows and acute losses of neonatal piglets. SVV has been identified in swine herds from United States, Canada, Australia, Italy, China and New Zealand. Few reports in Brazil characterized the virus circulating in outbreaks in the country and performed the phylogenetic analysis to better...
Introduction: The wean-to-farrow interval is comprised of two stochastic periods, the wean-to-service interval and gestation length. Variation in the wean-to-farrow interval can be affected by many biological factors as well as by management strategies like induced farrowing, multiple weanings/week and products which facilitate single, fixed-time AI like OvuGel®. The opportunity cost consequence of variation in a sow group’s wean-to-farrow interval is the...
Introduction: Improvac® (Zoetis, Florham Park, NJ, USA; marketed as Innosure® in Colombia) is an anti-GnRF vaccine for the immunological castration (IC) of male pigs for the control of boar taint. However, there is very limited information available about the effects of IC on female pigs by temporal suppression of estrus. The objective of this study was to compare performance and carcass quality of immunocastrated vs. normally maturing females raised in a...
Introduction: The results of fertility with the application of frozen-thawed boar semen are not consistent due to between-boar variation in freezability. The objective of this work was to determine the effect of three seminal plasma proteins on freezability of boar semen: Nieman-pick disease type C2 (NPC2), cholesterol transfer in cell membrane; heat shock protein 90 alpha A1 (HSP90AA1) and Lipocalin-Type prostaglandin D synthase (PGDS-L) involves in capacitation and...
Introduction: In 1998 the Dutch government issued that from 2013 sows must be housed in social groups within 5 days after insemination, in addition to EC directive 2008/120. In 2014, the government issued a project to aid farmers, which had reported, on request, negative effects of group housing in the first 4 weeks on welfare and reproduction (n=347), to overcome these effects. Focus of the project was on the interventions to chronic physical stress, as this is an important...
Introduction: Improvest® (Zoetis, also known as Improvac) is an anti-GnRF vaccine for the immunological castration of male pigs for the control of boar taint. However, there is limited information on the impact of timing of 2nd Improvest dose relative to the time of harvest on growth and carcass parameters. The objective of this study was to compare different times of the 2nd on the performance of immunological-castrates (IC) relative to physical-castrates (PC) and...
Introduction: Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae ( A. pleuropneumoniae ) is among the most important pathogens in pork production. The pathogen can cause severe economic losses due to acute or chronic pleuropneumonia accompanied by decreased performance and increased mortality. Both, therapeutic treatment and vaccination have no sustainable effect on the control or spreading of infection and in addition, vaccines are not always available. Thus, our research targets...
Introduction: Altrenogest is used worldwide to synchronise sexual cycle of replacement gilts before their introduction in the reproductive herd. Objective of this study was to test efficacy of a 0.4% altrenogest oral solution (Virbagest®, Virbac) for gilts synchronization in a large Korean farm. Materials and Methods: Selected herd comprises 2,500 sows managed according to 1-week batch farrowing. Twenty to 30 replacement gilts are introduced weekly in each...
Introduction: Farrowing is a critical period for the sow in which painful, inflammatory and infectious processes along with other systemic events cause postpartum stress and may trigger Postpartum Dysgalactia Syndrome (PPDS) which manifests itself either in clinical or subclinical presentation, both with negative impact on the sow and its litter regarding the development of suckling pigs. The objective of this study was to determine under field conditions the effect of...