• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.215-219
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• 2016

Value of excellent breeding animals is important in livestock industry, but their economic life time is limited. And, many countries have been trying procuration of genetic resource in good animals. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine embryo production and to test efficiency of embryo transfer via non-surgical artificial insemination (AI) in different breed of superior sows. A total of 17 sows were used in this experiment (Duroc, n=10; Landrace, n=4; Yorkshire, n=3). The sows were artificially inseminated by semen of same breed boars. After 4 or 5 days following the AI, the embryos were obtained from the sows and then transferred to Landrace and Yorkshire recipients (n=3, respectively) by non-surgical method. The corpora lutea tended to be increased in Yorkshire and Landrace than Duroc(28 and 26 vs. 17, respectively). The recovery of embryo was 78.8% in Landrace, 65.4% in Duroc and 51.4% in Yorkshire. Duroc showed lower morulaes and early blastocyst embryos than 2, 4, 8 and 16 cell. The morula in Yorkshire was higher (P<0.05) than that of Duroc (4.7 vs. 3.4). Similarly, the morulaes and early blastocyst embryos presented greater (P<0.05) in Landrace compared with other breed sows. The recipient sows were pregnant in a Landrace only. This reason may be due to little embryos inserted in the recipients. In addition, pregnancy results were limited because of the little sows. In conclusion, ovulated ovum in sows can be affected by different breed. Also, further study needed pregnant test by using the many embryo in each breed.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.9
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• pp.1312-1318
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• 2002

A feeding trial using sows and their neonates was conducted to determine the effects of source and level of organic trace mineral supplementation on reproductive performance of sows and the subsequent performance of their neonates through 2 wk post weaning. A total of 16 gestating sows ($Landrace{\times}$Yorkshire) in parities 2 to 4 were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments following a $2{\times}2$ factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. One of the two factors evaluated the effect of the source (inorganic vs organic), and the second factor evaluated the effect of the level (low vs high) of trace minerals added to the diet. The trace mineral premixes were formulated to provide a low concentration of trace minerals (50 ppm Fe/87.5 ppm Fe, 17.5 ppm Cu/85 ppm Cu, 45 ppm Zn/60 ppm Zn, and 20 ppm Mn/17.5 ppm Mn), and a high concentration of trace minerals (100 ppm Fe/175 ppm Fe, 35 ppm Cu/170 ppm Cu, 90 ppm Zn/120 ppm Zn, 40 ppm Mn/35 ppm Mn), when included at 0.20% in sows'/weaned pigs' diets, respectively. The total number born, total born alive and weaned, and the average neonate weight at birth were affected neither by the dietary source nor by the level of trace minerals (p>0.05), but an interaction effect (p<0.05) between the source and level of trace minerals was observed on the average weight at weaning. The neonates from sows fed the low level of organic trace minerals gained weight at an equal rate compared with those farrowed by sows fed the high level of inorganic trace minerals. Sows fed the organic trace minerals nursed their young with milk higher in Fe and Zn (p<0.05) compared with those fed diets with inorganic trace minerals. Consequently, the weaned pigs receiving the organic form of trace minerals tended to grow at a faster rate, consumed less feed and tended to utilize their feed more efficiently (p<0.10). It was further observed that the organic trace minerals significantly increased (p<0.05) Fe contents in the liver and serum, and Zn in the serum and bone. In conclusion, sows and neonates fed the organic minerals at low level showed similar performance compared with those fed the inorganic minerals at high level as specified in this study.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1598-1604
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• 2017

Objective: The present study investigated the litter performance of multiparous sows fed 3% and 6% densified diets at farrowing to weaning during summer with mean maximum room temperature of $30.5^{\circ}C$. Methods: A total of 60 crossbred multiparous sows were allotted to one of three treatments based on body weight according to a completely randomized design. Three different nutrient levels based on NRC were applied as standard diet (ST; metabolizable energy, 3,300 kcal/kg), high nutrient level 1 (HE1; ST+3% higher energy and 16.59% protein) and high nutrient level 2 (HE2; ST+6% higher energy and 17.04% protein). Results: There was no variation in the body weight change. However, backfat thickness change tended to reduce in HE1 in comparison to ST treatment. Dietary treatments had no effects on feed intake, daily energy intake and weaning-to-estrus interval in lactating sows. Litter size, litter weight at weaning and average daily gain of piglets were significantly greater in sows in HE1 compared with ST, however, no difference was observed between HE2 and ST. Increasing the nutrient levels had no effects on the blood urea nitrogen, glucose, triglyceride, and creatinine at post-farrowing and weaning time. The concentration of follicle stimulating hormone, cortisol and insulin were not affected by dietary treatments either in post-farrowing or weaning time. The concentration of blood luteinizing hormone of sows in ST treatment was numerically less than sows in HE2 treatment at weaning. Milk and colostrum compositions such as protein, fat and lactose were not affected by the treatments. Conclusion: An energy level of 3,400 kcal/kg (14.23 MJ/kg) with 166 g/kg crude protein is suggested as the optimal level of dietary nutrients for heat stressed lactating sows with significant beneficial effects on litter size.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.691-696
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• 2005

Suckling piglets must avoid positions with high air velocity because they don’t have hypodermic fat. Therefore this study examined the effects of air ejection on the behaviors of sows and their piglets. Compressed air was released for 5s at 5s intervals between floor and udder of sows only when they were standing or sitting. Sixteen multiparous crossbred(Landrace×Yorkshire) sows and their piglets were used. Behaviors of sixteen sows and their piglets were recorded for 4 days postpartum, using the LED lamp(wavelength:950nm), CCD camera(Samsung SDC-411), multiplexer(Samsung SDM-080), and time lapsed VCR(Samsung SRV-30). The videotapes were scanned every 30s to obtain an instantaneous behavioral sample. The sow’s standing and sitting rates between control group(CG) and air ejection group(AEG) were not significantly different(P＞0.05). This means that air ejection does not affect the behavior of sows. Frequency of the suckling piglets’ behaviors closely related to the crushing by sows was lower in AEG than in CG(P＜0.05). These results suggest that air ejection may be available for reduction of the crushing of suckling piglets by sows.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.2
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• pp.367-379
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• 2021

The objectives of this study were to evaluate convolutional neural network models and computer vision techniques for the classification of swine posture with high accuracy and to use the derived result in the investigation of the effect of dietary fiber level on the behavioral characteristics of the pregnant sow under low and high ambient temperatures during the last stage of gestation. A total of 27 crossbred sows (Yorkshire × Landrace; average body weight, 192.2 ± 4.8 kg) were assigned to three treatments in a randomized complete block design during the last stage of gestation (days 90 to 114). The sows in group 1 were fed a 3% fiber diet under neutral ambient temperature; the sows in group 2 were fed a diet with 3% fiber under high ambient temperature (HT); the sows in group 3 were fed a 6% fiber diet under HT. Eight popular deep learning-based feature extraction frameworks (DenseNet121, DenseNet201, InceptionResNetV2, InceptionV3, MobileNet, VGG16, VGG19, and Xception) used for automatic swine posture classification were selected and compared using the swine posture image dataset that was constructed under real swine farm conditions. The neural network models showed excellent performance on previously unseen data (ability to generalize). The DenseNet121 feature extractor achieved the best performance with 99.83% accuracy, and both DenseNet201 and MobileNet showed an accuracy of 99.77% for the classification of the image dataset. The behavior of sows classified by the DenseNet121 feature extractor showed that the HT in our study reduced (p < 0.05) the standing behavior of sows and also has a tendency to increase (p = 0.082) lying behavior. High dietary fiber treatment tended to increase (p = 0.064) lying and decrease (p < 0.05) the standing behavior of sows, but there was no change in sitting under HT conditions.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.36 no.7
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• pp.1083-1090
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• 2023

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the short-term effects of dietary selenium supplementation on lactating sows on the physiological response, litter performance, milk composition, and tissue selenium retention in piglets when selenium was provided by different sources and at different levels in a lactation diet. Methods: A total of 48 multiparous sows (Yorkshire×Landrace) with average body weight, backfat thickness, and parity were assigned to one of the four treatments with 12 sows per treatment using a 2×2 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design. Inorganic or organic Se sources were added to the diet at 0.30 ppm and 0.50 ppm Se. Treatments were as follows: i) IS30, basal diet + inorganic Se 0.30 ppm; ii) IS50, basal diet + inorganic Se 0.50 ppm; iii) OS30, basal diet + organic Se 0.30 ppm; and iv) OS50: basal diet + organic Se 0.50 ppm. Results: At Day 21 of lactation, a high tendency of litter weight (p = 0.08) and litter weight gain (p = 0.09) were observed when sows were fed an organic Se source. The milk Se concentration in the organic Se treatment was higher than that in the inorganic Se treatment at Day 21 of lactation (p<0.05). The serum Se concentrations of sows and piglets at Day 21 of lactation were significantly higher when lactating sows were fed organic Se instead of inorganic Se (p<0.01). During the suckling period, the kidney and muscle Se concentrations of piglets at Day 21 of lactation were significantly higher when the sow dietary Se source was organic (p<0.05). Liver Se concentrations were affected by Se source and level (p<0.05). This also resulted in an interaction response at 21 days of lactation (p<0.05). Conclusion: The supplementation of dietary organic Se in a lactating diet could improve sow feed consumption, piglet performance, milk Se level, and the Se status of sows and piglets.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.6
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• pp.1308-1322
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• 2023

Minerals is required small amounts among various nutrients, but it has a significant impact on sow longevity and reproduction performance. This study was carried out to see the beneficial effects of marine-derived Ca-Mg complex on the reproductive performance of sows during four-parity periods. Seventy-two gilts ([Yorkshire × Landrace] × Duroc), with an average body weight of 181 kg, were randomly allocated to three groups; CON (basal diet), 0.3LC (CON - MgO - 0.3% limestone + 0.4% Ca-Mg complex), and 0.7LC (CON - MgO - 0.7% limestone + 0.4% Ca-Mg complex). During parity 3 and 4, the expression level of SCD gene was lower in the umbilical cord of piglets born to 0.3LC and 0.7LC sows compared with the CON sows. During parity 2, 3 and 4, SLC2A2 and FABP4 gene expressions were higher in the umbilical cord of piglets born to 0.7LC sows and the placenta of sows from 0.3LC groups, respectively. Ca-Mg complex increased (p < 0.05) Ca and Mg concentrations in sows and their piglets' serum as well as in colostrum regardless of parities. The serum vitamin D concentration was higher (p < 0.05) in their first parity, whereas serum prolactin and estrogen concentrations were higher (p < 0.05) during the fourth and third parity, respectively. The growth hormone concentrations were higher (p < 0.05) in the piglets born to sows during the first and second parity. The fat and immunoglobulin A (IgA) concentrations in colostrum were higher (p < 0.05) during the third and fourth parity, respectively. A reduction (p < 0.05) in salivary cortisol, epinephrine, and norepinephrine concentrations was observed in 0.3LC and 0.7LC sow groups compared with CON after farrowing regardless of parity, however before farrowing, a reduction in norepinephrine was observed. Before farrowing, the epinephrine and norepinephrine concentrations were higher (p < 0.05) during the first and second parity. After farrowing, the concentration of these hormones was higher during the second parity. Taken together, sows' parity and dietary Ca-Mg complex supplementation influenced serum metabolites, colostrum nutrients, stress hormones as well as the gene expressions related to lipid and glucose metabolism.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.7
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• pp.1011-1014
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• 2008

A total of 335 sows at a commercial operation (Hitch Pork Producers Inc, Guymon, OK) was used to determine dietary effects of yeast culture supplementation ($XPC^{TM}$, Diamond V Mills) on litter performance. Sows were grouped by parity (parity 1 to 12). Pigs within a group were then allotted to treatments. Treatments consisted of: CON (no added yeast culture) and YC (12 and 15 g/d XPC during gestation and lactation, respectively). Sows were housed individually and fed their assigned gestation and lactation diets from d 35 of gestation to d 21 of lactation. Sows were fed 2.0 kg/d during gestation and ad libitum during lactation. Voluntary feed intake was measured daily during lactation. At farrowing, numbers of pigs born total and alive were measured. Weights of litters were measured at birth and weaning on d 21 of lactation. Litter weight gain of the YC treatment was 6.9% greater (p<0.01) than that of the CON. However, voluntary feed intake of sows and litter size did not differ between treatments. This study indicates that dietary yeast culture supplementation benefits sow productivity by improving litter weight gain. At present, it is not confirmed if improved litter weight gain was due to milk production, which remains to be investigated.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.69-75
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• 1985

Hog cholera serum neutralizing antibody of piglets and sows were titrated by means of END SN method. The piglets of a variety of ages, precolostrally immunized with LOM living HC vaccine were subjected to the test. The sows were vaccinated with lapinized living HC vaccine after 25 days from the parturition. Throughout the studies the following results were obtained and summarised. 1. Hog cholera antibody titers of inbred sows immunized with lapinized living HC vaccine after 25 days from parturition were high except Hampshire group(Table 2). 2. Sows, different stage of the pregnancy or the day of parturition, and of 3 way crossed, that were immunized with lapinized living HC vaccine have shown no significant difference on HC antibody titer(Table 2, 3). 3. HC antibody titers of piglets, immunized with a single dose of LOM HC vaccine before feeding colostrum, were high in case of the younger group(1 week) compare to the older(7 week) (Table 4). 4. The piglets that were booster immunized with LOM HC vaccine at the age of 7 weeks have shown an inconsistent antibody titers(Table 5).

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2021

A total of twenty-four multiparous sows (Landrace × Yorkshire) and their litters were used in this 21-day experimental trial. Based on their body weight, sows were randomly allocated into one of three treatments with eight replicates. The dietary betaine supplementation contained three levels: (i) CON (Basal diet + 0% Bet), (ii) Bet 0.05% (CON + 0.05% Betaine), and (iii) Bet 0.15% (CON + 0.15% Betaine). The supplementation of betaine had no effect (p > 0.05) on body weight and feed intake of lactating sow. Moreover, no significant response was observed on backfat thickness, body condition score, and weaning of the estrus interval with the dietary supplementation of betaine. In addition, the litter weaning weight, litter weight gain, average litter daily gain, and survivability rate at birth showed no significant difference with the dietary betaine supplementation of the sow diet. Fecal scores of the lactating sows and suckling piglets were not affected (p > 0.05) with the dietary betaine supplementation compared with the control diet during the experimental periods. The findings of this study showed that betaine supplementation does not boost growth performance, feed intake, body conditions, and fecal score in lactating sows and suckling piglets fed a corn-soybean meal-based diet.