Philippine E-Journals

RELATIONSHIP OF BACKFAT THICKNESS AND BODY WEIGHT ON SOW HEALTH AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE

Precy B. Dizon | Amadeo A. Alcantara

 

Abstract:

The study was performed to investigate the relationship of backfat thickness (BFT) and body weight (BW) of sows of different breeds and parities to their health and reproductive performance. Data analyzed included 346 sow individual records from a commercial farm in Balayan, Batangas, Philippines. BFT had weak negative correlations with respiratory-related clinical signs (RRCS, r= - 0.140) and weaning-to-service interval (WSI, r= - 0.164) overall set of clinical signs (CS, r= - 0.231) and number of mummified (MM, r= 0.310) fetuses. There was significant moderate negative relationship between BFT and total born (TB, r= - 0.439) and born alive (BA,r= - 0.405) piglets. Moderate positive correlations between BFT and average piglet weight at birth (APWT, r= 0.411) in parity 4, and with weaning-to-conception interval (WCI, r= 0.310) and farrowing interval (FI, r= 0.360) in parity 1. BW had a weak to moderate positive relationships with number of stillborn (SB, r= 0.117), lactation-related clinical signs (Lact-CS, r= 0.204),TB (r= 0.334), BA (r= 0.334)and litter weight (LWT, r= 0.318)across breeds and evidently seen in parity 3(TB, r= 0.486; BA, r= 0.501;LWT, r= 0.422). In parity 5 > BW had positive correlations to the overall set of CS (r= 0.449), Lact-CS (r= 0.346), Systemic clinical signs (SCS, r= 0.326) and RRCS (r= 0.360). BW had negative correlations with WSI (r= - 0.273) and WCI (r= - 0.214) for F1 sowsand with FI (r= -0.480) at parity 5 >. Hence, with the observed association of BFT and BW to sow health and reproductive performance, they can be used as tools in the implementation of a more efficient breeding management program.