Maternal responsiveness of outdoor sows from first to fourth parities
Maternal responsiveness of outdoor sows from first to fourth parities
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DOI：
10.1016/j.applanim.2005.09.003
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发表时间：
2006-07-01
影响因子：
2.3
通讯作者：
Mendl, Michael
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Held, Suzanne;Mason, Georgia;Mendl, Michael
众所周知，室内品种的母猪对被困在自己身体下的小猪的反应速度和力量不同。之前的两项研究也有证据表明，母猪对模拟被困小猪尖叫的回放反应与其窝中被压碎的小猪的数量有关。这增加了在仔猪尖叫测试中使用响应度作为衡量商品猪哺育能力的可能性。在室外母猪中，由于挤压造成的仔猪损失被认为甚至比室内母猪更高，但相对较少的人知道母体反应。在这些动物身上，或者关于它与小猪死亡的关系。因此，本研究调查了户外母猪在仔猪尖叫试验和仔猪搬运试验中的行为。它的主要目的是调查几个胎次在测试反应中的变化和个体一致性，以及母猪在这些测试中的行为与其在商业户外生产条件下的存活之间的关系。收集了41头长白/杜洛克×大白母猪的第一胎至第四胎的数据，母猪饲养在单独的分娩围场。由于2000年严重洪灾和2001年英国口蹄疫疫情造成的数据丢失，第二次和第三次人口普查的数据必须合并。母体反应性测试包括产后第5天或第6天的仔猪尖叫测试，以及母猪在第1、9或10天、第24或25天处理仔猪时的反应测试(仔猪防御测试)。胎次间的比较表明，母猪对仔猪叫声的回放比对控制声音(鸟鸣)的反应更强烈、更快。两项测试的反应都有很大的个体差异，而且有一些证据表明，不同胎次的个体差异是一致的。母猪对仔猪尖叫声和控制声回放的反应强烈相关，从第一胎到第四胎下降，母猪的防御性分数也是如此。两个测试中的反应在母猪的第一胎中有关联，但在随后的胎次中没有关联。没有证据表明母猪的测试反应与其产仔的总死亡率或活产死亡率之间存在关联，这首次表明，小猪尖叫测试中的反应作为育儿能力的衡量标准的用处可能有限，至少在商业单位的户外母猪中是这样。(C)2005 Elsevier B.V.保留所有权利。
Sows of indoor breeds are well known to differ in the speed and strength with which they respond to a piglet trapped under their bodies. There is also evidence from two previous studies that a sow's responsiveness to playback of a simulated trapped piglet scream is related to the number of crushed piglets in her litter. This raises the possibility of using responsiveness in the Piglet Scream Test as a measure of mothering ability in commercial pigs. In outdoor sows, piglet losses due to crushing are thought to be even higher than in indoor sows, yet comparatively little is known about the maternal responsiveness. in these animals, or about its relationship to piglet mortality. The present study therefore investigated the behaviour of outdoor sows in the Piglet Scream Test and a piglet handling test. Its main aims were to investigate changes and individual consistency in test responses over several parities, and the relationship between a sow's behaviour in these tests and the survival of her piglets under commercial outdoor production conditions. Data were collected for first to fourth parities on 41 Landrace/Duroc x Large White sows kept in individual farrowing paddocks. Data from second and third parities had to be combined because of data losses incurred by severe floods in 2000 and the UK Foot and Mouth Epidemic of 2001. Tests of maternal responsiveness comprised a Piglet Scream Test on Day 5 or 6 post-partum and a test of the sows' responses to handling of their piglets on Days 1, 9 or 10, and 24 or 25 (Piglet Defence Test). Comparisons within parities revealed that sows responded more strongly and faster to playback of a piglet scream than of a control sound (bird call). Large individual differences were evident in responses in both tests, and there was some evidence for consistency in individual differences across parities. The responses to playback of the piglet scream and control sound were strongly correlated and declined from first to fourth parities, as did the sows' defensiveness scores. Responses in the two tests were correlated in the sows' first, but not subsequent parities. There was no evidence for an association between the test responses of the sows and total or live-born mortality levels in their litters which gives some first indication of a potentially limited usefulness of responses in the Piglet Scream Test as measures of mothering ability, at least in outdoor sows on commercial units. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.