Volume: 55 Issue: 4
Year: 2024, Page: 717-720, Doi: https://doi.org/10.51966/jvas.2024.55.4.717-720
Received: Aug. 6, 2024 Accepted: Oct. 21, 2024 Published: Dec. 31, 2024
The study investigated how parity was related to various reproductive performances in crossbred sows
across five different agro climatic zones of Kerala. The present study examined the reproductive performance of sows
maintained up to the sixth parity by pig farmers. The shortest weaning-to-estrus interval (3.04 ± 0.21 days) was found
in second-parity sows, while the longest interval (4.60 ± 0.89 days) occurred in sixth-parity sows. Optimal reproductive
performance, including shorter weaning-to-service intervals was noted in sows in second and third parities. These sows
also exhibited the lowest pre-weaning mortality and shortest inter-farrowing intervals, with the least weaning-to-service
interval recorded at 4.27±0.55 days and the shortest inter-farrowing interval at 7.61 ± 0.43 months. Older sows in their
fifth and sixth parities experienced longer weaning-to-service intervals and higher reproductive failure rates. Litter sizes
at birth and weaning were higher in second-parity sows, with 11.82 ± 1.37 piglets and 8.91 ± 0.75 piglets, respectively,
followed by third-parity sows. Second-parity sows also showed superior performance in other metrics such as birth weight
in piglets (1.41 ± 0.14 kg), total litter weight at birth (13.17 ± 2.43 kg), weaning weight in piglets (12.12 ± 2.00 kg), litter
weight at weaning (86.38 ± 14.12 kg), and weight gain per piglet (2.11 ± 0.54 kg). Better reproductive traits in sows and
litter traits in piglets were observed in sows with parity two and three compared to sows with parity more than five and this
study indicated that sows can be used effectively in breeding herds upto fifth parity.
Keywords: Parity, reproductive performance, sows
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© 2024 Pooja et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author and source are credited
Pooja, U., Balusami, C., John, A., Senthil Murugan, S., Sabin G. and Pramod, K.2024. Influence of parity on
reproductive performance of sows: Insights from pig farms in Kerala.
J. Vet. Anim. Sci. 55 (4):717-720