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- Title
Growth and reproductive development of male piglets are more vulnerable to midgestation maternal stress than that of female piglets.
- Authors
Mack, L. A.; Jr., D. C. Lay; Eicher, S. D.; Johnson, A. K.; Richert, B. T.; Pajor, E. A.
- Abstract
In many mammalian species, prenatal stress masculinizes female and feminizes male offspring impairing their reproductive capacity. Regrouping ges-tating sows is a common, stressful production practice, but its impact on the developing pigs of the sow is not fully known. This study examined the effects of regroup-ing gestating sows and the administration of exogenous glucocorticoids on the growth and external reproductive morphology of pigs. At 37.2 ± 0.26 d of gestation, 6 cohorts of 18 sows (N= 108) were placed in 1 of 3 treatments: socially stable (Stable), hydrocortisone acetate (HCA), or mixed (Mixed). The HCA sows were administered 70 mg HCA, a synthetic glucocorticoid, twice daily during the 21 d experimental period. Each Mixed sow was penned with 2 companion sows (Companion) and regrouped on d 7 and 14 with 2 different Companion sows in a new pen. Stable and HCA sows were penned in treatment groups of 3 sows. Sow social rank was assessed weekly during feeding. After the 21 d experimental period, all sows were housed in gestation stalls for the duration of pregnancy. During the 21 d, Companion sows gained more weight than HCA and Mixed sows (P < 0.05) with Stable sows intermediate. High ranked sows gained more weight than middle and low ranked sows (P < 0.05). Mixed sows had greater head lesion scores than Stable and HCA sows (P < 0.05) with Companion sows intermediate. Head lesions increased with lower social rank (P < 0.001). Sow treat-ment did not affect farrowing rate, litter size, or sex ratio (P > 0.10). Social rank also had no effect on farrowing rate (P > 0.10), but affected total litter size (P = 0.03). High ranked sows bore and weaned more live females than low ranked sows (P < 0.05), in part due to differential pre-weaning mortality among female pigs (P = 0.01 ). Only male pigs were affected by sow treatment. Preweaning mortality was higher among male pigs from HCA than from Mixed sows (P = 0.04) with other treatments inter-mediate. Despite no weight differences in the preweaning period, at 160 d of age males from HCA sows weighed more than males from Stable sows (P = 0.01) with other treatments intermediate. Males born to Companion sows had longer relative anogenital distances, a marker of fetal testosterone exposure, than males from Mixed sows (P = 0.03) with other treatments intermediate. The prenatal environment affected the pigs in a sex-specific manner altering the growth and reproductive morphology of the males more than that of the females.
- Subjects
PIGLETS; SWINE; PREGNANCY in mammals; SOWS; GLUCOCORTICOIDS; PRENATAL depression; TESTOSTERONE; REPRODUCTION; GESTATION crates
- Publication
Journal of Animal Science, 2014, Vol 92, Issue 2, p530
- ISSN
0021-8812
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.2527/jas.2013-6773