M. A. Barsukova, K. N. Narozhnykh, I. A. Afanasyeva
Novosibirsk State Agrarian University, Novosibirsk, Russia
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Volume 25 No. 11
Date of paper submission: 17.03.2025, date of review: 02.05.2025, date of acceptance: 09.09.2025.
Published: 11/30/2025
Abstract. For modern industrial pig breeding, it is important to reduce the sow reproduction cycle and obtain 2.35–2.40 parities in sow per year, which makes it possible to produce 40 or more piglets during the year. Such intensive use leads to early depletion of animals and culling and, as a result, to an increased need for repair of young animals. At the same time, it is known that the reproductive qualities of sows tend to increase throughout life, which is one of the arguments for maintaining the longest possible period of keeping sows in the herd. The purpose of this study was to study the influence of age (parities) on the results of parities in sows of an industrial herd, including the number of total piglets born, the number of live, stillborn, and weak piglets. Research methods. The study was conducted on sows from the commercial herd of an industrial pig complex in the south of Western Siberia. The sows were evaluated based on the survey results, including such indicators as the total number of piglets born, including mummified piglets, the number of live and normal piglets, the number of stillborn piglets, and the number of weak piglets. The sows were divided into groups depending on the number of parities. Statistical analysis and data visualization were performed in the statistical programming environment of R using nonparametric methods. The scientific novelty consists in assessing the effect of the number of parities (age) on the reproductive qualities of sows, the variability parameters of not only total fertility, but also the number of live, weak and stillborn piglets depending on the number of parities. Results. It was found that the age of sows affects the survey results and, despite the fact that young sows give birth to significantly fewer live piglets, they also have significantly fewer stillborn piglets. In older sows, on the contrary, along with an increase in the number of live piglets, the number of dead piglets increases in parallel, which indirectly demonstrates the relationship between age and the appearance of problems such as lengthening of parity and weakening of the body of older sows.
Keywords: pig breeding, reproductive qualities, age of sows, stillbirth, piglets, litter size
For citation: Barsukova M. A., Narozhnykh K. N., Afanasyeva I. A. The influence of sow age on parities results in industrial technology. Agrarian Bulletin of the Urals. 2025; 25 (11): 1830‒1841. https://doi.org/10.32417/1997-4868-2025-25-11-1830-1841 (In Russ.)
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