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The Effect of Wet Pad and Forced Ventilation House on the Reproductive Performance of Boar |
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S. H. Chiang, L. C. Hsia |
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| Abstract |
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There were two trials involved in the experiment. Trial 1: the trial was conducted on two Taiwan Sugar Corporation (TSC) pig farms. One was located in the north of Taiwan and the other was located in the south. Both farms had wet pad and forced ventilation (WPFV) and conventional open design (COD) boar and sow houses. There were 12 Duroc boars, age ranging from 12-24 months. Half of them (6 boars) were raised in a WPFV pig house, and the other half were kept in a COD house. Semen was collected at 5-day intervals from May 1st to the end of October. Sixteen sows (2-8 parity) were served by artificial insemination each week from the beginning of May to the end of Oct. These sows were checked for heat from 18 days to 25 days after insemination. Trial 2: there were four MPFV boar houses involved in the test. Two houses were located in the north of Taiwan, and the other two houses were located in the south. The test was conducted from January 2000 to December 2001. The total number of serviced sows by MPFV-housed boars was 35,105 head and for COD-housed boars 103,065 head. The results showed that the total semen volume, density of sperm, total sperm per ejaculate, sperm motility and morphological abnormality were significantly better (p<0.01) for boar raised in WPFV house than for COD houses. Average sperm motility in June and July was lower than for the other months. Morphological abnormality was higher during May, June and July. Although the results did not reach a significant level, the average value showed that the total volume of boar semen was higher in the north than for the south. The total semen volume production of boar raised in WPFV was higher than for boars raised in COD house, reaching a significant level only in summer. Boars kept in WPFV house had higher total sperm number than boars kept in COD house, reaching a significant level in spring (p<0.05), summer (p<0.01), and fall (p<0.05) but not in winter (p>0.05). Boars raised in WPFV house had significantly higher sperm motility than boars in COD house during spring (p<0.001), summer (p<0.001), fall (p<0.01) and winter (p<0.05). The average farrowing rate and piglets born alive were higher for boars in WPFV house than for boars in COD house, but neither reached a significant level (p>0.05). The present experiment shows that WPFV house can improve the reproduction performance of boars. |
| Keywords:
Boar; Sow; Reproduction; Improvement |
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