The influence of weaning time on the growth of piglets and reproductive performance of sows in Viet Yen district, Bac Giang province

Trƣơng Hữu Dũng và cs Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 77(01): 69 - 75 69 THE INFLUENCE OF WEANING TIME ON THE GROWTH OF PIGLETS AND REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF SOWS IN VIET YEN DISTRICT, BAC GIANG PROVINCE Truong Huu Dung 1* , Nguyen Thi Hanh 2 1 College of Agriculture and Forestry - TNU 2Viet Yen Bac Giang College of Agriculture and Forestry ABSTRACT Findings of the influence of weaning age on the growth of piglets and reproductive performance of Landrace, Yorkshire sows showed: When weaned at 18 days old, weaners grew better than those weaned at 25 days of age, in particular: In the period of 45 and 60 days, weaner‟s bodyweight was, 13,62; 21,19 kg - 13,29 and 20.70 kg/head respectively with (P <0,05). In addition, the early weaning had no negative effect on the susceptibility rate of piglets for some gastrointestinal diseases, such as diarrhea and coccidiosis. Weaned at 18 days of age does not reduce the fertility of sows in the next litters, result of reproductive performance of herd of sows in the two comparative and experiment groups showed that the number of newborn piglets/ litter; number of alive newborn piglets/ litter and number of weaned pigs/ litter is similar: 11,42 -11,33 head/ litter; 10,45 - 10,44 head/ litter; 9,47- 9, 38 head/ litter(P> 0,05), respectively. Weaned piglets at 18 days of age also help the sow re-estrus sooner, which reduces weight loss and improves feed consumption ratio (FCR) of weaners at 60 days of age compared with weaned pigs at 25 days of age, these values were: 5,11 - 6,75 days (P <0,05): 10,17 - 11,80% (P <0,05) and FCR: 2,47 - 2,75 , respectively. Keywords: Early weaning; sow fertility, FCR, Etc INTRODUCTION  In animal production sector, pigs production is a conventional practice and it plays an important role in livestock production as its products mainly supplied to the market are pork, which accounted for 75-76% of the total meat supplied. Currently, pigs production in Viet Nam had grown very well, the numbers of sows increased from 2.9 million in 2001 to 4.09 million in 2009, which accounted for 13.10% of exotic sows, expecting to reached 14.20% by 2010. Although pig production in Viet Nam has grown rapidly in term of quantity as well as in term of quality. However, the quality of pork produced is relatively low, with lower percentate of lean meat, especially those produced in the midland provinces in the northern mountainous region. Thus, it does not only meet the consumer demand for lean, soft, little fat meat, with delicious taste and  Tel: 0912221821; E.mail: truonghuudung_tuaf@yahoo.com flavor, but also fail to compete with regional markets and the world‟s ones. As one of nine districts of Bac Giang, Viet Yen district was interested in developing herd of exotic sows on the farm, however, farmers who switched from growing domestic pigs or cross-bred pigs to high productivity pigs were limited or lack of information such as feeding, management, disease prevention etc... but the most urgent issue that they confront with is the weaning age of piglets in order to achieve most economical efficiency. Currently, farmers practice of weaning piglets at between 21 and 25 days old. But this is for the purpose of improving the productivity of exotic sows, reducing feed cost for 1 kg of weaned pigs, and to increase the number of litters/sow/year, eliminating some diseases‟ transmission from sows to piglets, then the decision of the appropriate time to wean the piglets is a necessary task. Based on the above facts we conducted the trial: “Effect of weaning age on the growth performance of piglets and the fertility of sows in Viet Yen District, Bac Giang province.” Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu - Đại học Thái Nguyên Trƣơng Hữu Dũng và cs Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 77(01): 69 - 75 70 MATERIALS AND METHODS Materials - Exotic swine of Landrace and Yorkshire breeds (72 sows) through the third and fourth litters. - Piglets are Landrace, Yorkshire breeds from birth to 60 days old. Methods and Measurements * Methods: The experiment was assigned according to group‟s comparison. The tests ensure the principle of batches uniformity , feeding, housing conditions ... CP's feed for mother and baby pig in the weaning period was used. Between two groups there are different lots of weaning time just for piglets Experimental group: weaning age was 18 days (experimental factor). Control group: weaning age was 25 days (It is currently a common practice at pig farms). In this experiment, we took the current weaning applied for reference in the ranches for more than a week early weaning (18 days). *Measurements: - The growth, feed consumption of the experimental piglets - The rate of diseases infection - The fertility of sows Formula Unit Experimental group Control group The numbers of piglet litter monitored litter 36 (18 L, 18Y) 36 (18 L, 18Y) Parent pigs n/a Landrace, Yrokshire litter number litter 3rd Sow„s Weight kg 200 - 210 Number of piglets head 377 371 Breeds n/a Landrace, Yorkshire Male / female ratio M/F 175/202 178/193 Experimental factor wean at 18 days Wean at 25 days Table 1. Accumulative growth of the experimental pigs (kg / pig) Period Experimental group Control group n (head) X ± m x CV (%) n (head) X ± m x CV (%) new born 377 1,62 a ± 0,01 3,11 371 1,63 a ± 0,02 5,82 15 371 5,19 a ± 0,05 5,96 366 5,15 a ± 0,06 7,62 30 362 8,57 a ± 0,06 3,99 354 8,44 a ± 0,07 4,64 45 358 13,62 a ± 0,05 2,27 349 13,29 b ± 0,06 2,81 60 355 21,19 a ± 0,13 3,74 345 20,70 b ± 0,14 3,99 * Note: The different subdescription letters in the same row are significantly differed with (P <0,05). Diagram 1. The cumulative growth of pigs over periods 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 ss 15 30 45 60 Days of age Weight ( kg) Thí nghi?m Experimental Control Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu - Đại học Thái Nguyên Trƣơng Hữu Dũng và cs Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 77(01): 69 - 75 71 RESEARCH RESULTS Effect of early weaning on grow performance * Accumulative growth of experimental pigs: Bodyweight of newborn piglets between the two groups was similar at the start of experiment (P> 0,05) and increased gradually through the periods, exactly reflected the normality of the cumulative growth of piglets. During period from birth to 30 days old, piglets grew in two equal groups, which were 1,62- 8,57 kg/ head and 1,63 - 8,44 kg/ head respectively. So in this period, the early weaning did not only reduce the capacity of growing, but also promoted the growth of piglets in the next stage. Results obtained during the period from 30 - 45 days of age showed that growing pigs in experimental group and the control group had different bodyweight,:13,62 and 13,29 kg/ head, respectively (P<0,05). Thus, in this period, pigs in experimental group significantly grown faster than those in the control group by 0,33 kg/ head. (Checking for statistic is needed). At 60 days of age, the average bodyweight of pigs in experimental group was 21,19 kg/ head which was significantly (P<0,05) higher than that of control group (20,70 kg). So in experiment group, piglets were weaned early would grow better than those in control group. (As a result, piglets are weaned early in experimental group ,so they can be fed other feed. * Absolute growth rate of experimental pigs: During period from 31 - 45 days old, the absolute growth of pigs increased rapidly, in particular: the absolute growth of experimental group and the control group was 336,30 grams/head/day and 323, 30 grams/head/day, respectively. the growth rate during this period of the second group was significant different. During period from 46-60 days: in the two experimental and control groups, piglets recieved similar nurture and care conditions, but growth rate of pigs in two groups was significant different: 504,70 grams/head/day; 494,20 grams/head/day (P <0,05), respectively. The result is illustrated in Figure 1. Table 2. Absolute growth of experimental pigs (grams/head/day) Period Experimental group Control group n (head) xmX   Cv (%) n (head) xmX  Cv (%) New born - 15 377 237,90 a ± 3,60 9,04 371 234,60 a ± 4,20 10,74 16 - 30 371 225,70 a ± 2,90 7,80 366 219,30 a ± 2,90 7,93 31 - 45 362 336,30 a ± 2,80 5,23 354 323,30 b ± 2,90 5,38 46 - 60 358 504,70 a ± 7,50 8,92 349 494,20 b ± 8,20 9,92 Note: The different subdescription letters in the same row are significantly differed with (P <0,05) 200 250 300 350 400 450 500 550 600 650 Khèi l-îng (gam) ss-15 16-30 31-45 46-60 Giai ®o¹n (ngày tuæi) Thí nghiệm Đối chứng Figure 1. Absolute growth of experimental pigs Weigth (gram) Day of age Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu - Đại học Thái Nguyên Trƣơng Hữu Dũng và cs Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 77(01): 69 - 75 72 * Relative growth rate of experimental pigs: Relative growth rate is the percentage of body weight or size of the measured dimensions increased before and after survey. In Table 3 shows the relative growth rate of pigs was decreased. Relative growth rate of two experimental and control groups comply with the normality of growth which is reduced by an increase of age. During period from birth - 15 days old, relative growth rate of experimental group was 104,67% while that of the control group was 103,52%. During period from 16-30 days old, as this experimental factor has begun to be conducted on the two groups, the relative growth rate of the experimental and control groups was 49,28% and 48,53%, respectively. During period of 31-60 days old piglets had weaned and gradually adapted to new living conditions. Relative growth rate of pigs in two experimental and control groups is fairly uniform, with no significant differences. The result is shown in Figure 2. Influence of weaning age to the possibility of the incidence of diarrhea of experimental piglets * The incidence of diarrhea of experimental pigs: The Findings showed that during period from birth to weaning, the prevalence of diarrhea in both groups was very high: 5,57 - 7,55% (P> 0,05), respectively. After weaning, the experimental and control groups showed that the incidence of diarrhea decreased over the corresponding periods was: 3,49 - 3,85% and 1,10 - 1,14% (P> 0,05), respectively. This finding suggests that, in the later stages of weaning, the infection rate for digestive pathogen of both groups were reduced and there was no difference found amoung the group, it might be due to pigs had equiped with the developer digestive system than they had before and this was capable to prevent the invasion of digestive pathogen better than in the previous period and weaning early at 18 days of age of pigs did not affect the prevalence of diarrhea. * The incidence of coccidiosis of experimental pigs: Results in Table 5 shows that the incidence of coccidiosis in experimental and control groups occurred in several stages from birth to weaning, the differences between the two groups did not have statistical significance (P > 0.05). This demonstrates that 18- day weaning period did not affect the incidence of coccidiosis in piglets compared to 25 day weaned pigs. Table 3. Relative growth of experimental pigs Period Experimental group Control group n (head) Rate (%) n (head) Rate (%) new born - 15 377 104,67 371 103,52 16 - 30 371 49,28 366 48,53 31 - 45 362 45,51 354 44,64 46 - 60 358 43,45 349 43,57 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 ss-15 16-30 31-45 46-60 Giai ®o¹n (ngµy tuæi) Tỷ lệ (%) Thí nghiệm Đối chứng Figure 2. Relative growth rate of experimental pigs Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu - Đại học Thái Nguyên Trƣơng Hữu Dũng và cs Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 77(01): 69 - 75 73 Table 4. The incidence of diarrhea of experimental pigs Period Experimental Group Comparative Group Number of monitered pigs (head) Number of infected pigs (head) The incidence (%) Number of monitered pigs (head) Number of infected pigs (head) The incidence (%) new born-wean 377 21 5,57 a 371 28 7,55 a Wean - 30 372 13 3,49 a 364 14 3,85 a 31 – 45 363 4 1,10a 352 4 1,14a 46 - 60 358 3 0,88 a 349 3 0,86 a Note: The different subdescription letters in the same row are significantly differed with (P <0,05) Table 5. The incidence of coccidiosis of experimental pigs Period Experimental Group Comparative Group Number of monitored pigs(head) Number of infected pigs (head) The incidenc e (%) Number of monitored pigs(head) Number of infected pigs (head) The incidence (%) new born-wean 377 131 34,75 a 371 120 32,35 a Wean - 30 372 2 0,54 a 364 1 0,27 a 31 - 45 363 0 0,00 352 0 0,00 46 - 60 358 0 0,00 349 0 0,00 Note: The different subdescription letters in the same row are significantly differed with (P <0,05) Through this results we could see that early weaned pigs did not affect the incidence of coccidiosis and diarrhea in pigs. However, the period after weaning is the susceptible stage which is very high, therefore, avoiding stress is unnecessary at this point. (Vague: needa be reviewed) Affect of weaning age on sows’ fertility The result of monitoring the fertility of the sow of two experimental and control groups showed that the number of newborns/ litter, the number of alive newborns/litter and the number of weaned pigs/ sows‟ litter in the groups is similar,, which were 11,42 - 11,33 head/ litter; 10,45 - 10,44 head/ litter; 9,47 - 9,38 head/ litter (P > 0,05), respectively. The weight loss of sows in both groups showed significant differences, , from 10,17 to 11,80% (P<0,05), respectively. In experimental group, the weight loss is lower than that of the control group, it might due to the nursing time is 7 days shorter, therefore, early weaning had reduced the weight loss of sows. Re-estrus time of sows after weaning in experimental groups was 5,11 days and 6,75 days in the control group (P <0,05). Thus weaned pigs at 18 days had helped sows‟ re- estrus sooner. The above analysis shows that the indicators on the fertility of the two groups do not differ markedly. Proved early weaning period of piglets does not reduce the reproductive performance of sows, on the other hand it also prevent the weight loss of sows, and sows soon returned to estrus cycle after weaning. Effect of early weaning age to feed consumption / kg of 60-day-old pigs FCR of 60-day-old piglets is an indicator of economic and of an important technique. For farmers, this indicator reflects the level of care, level of feeding of gilts and pigs post weaning to 60 days old, and it also reflects the breeding effective (production efficiency?). For sows, this indicator reflects her ability to utilize feed for the metabolic process to supply the needs for pregnancy and lactation. Results of FCR at 60-day-old pigs in the next litter is shown in Table 8. Amount of feed for pigs up to 60 days of age in experimental group was higher than that for the control group, which were: 210,54 and 200,49 kg/ litter, respectively. The reason is that in experimental group, with earlier weaning practice, the piglets were accessed to feed one week earlier than those in the control group. Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu - Đại học Thái Nguyên Trƣơng Hữu Dũng và cs Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 77(01): 69 - 75 74 Table 6. Results of monitoring reproductive performance of exotic sows in the fourth litter Targets unit Experimental group Comparative group n X ± m x Cv (%) n X ± m x Cv (%) Number of newborn pigs/ litter head 36 11,42 a ± 0,21 10,95 36 11,33 a ± 0,24 12,44 Number of alive new born pigs/ litter head 36 10,45 a ± 0,08 4,83 36 10,44 a ± 0,15 8,40 Rate of alive new born pigs % 36 92,24 a ± 1,30 8,78 36 92,87 a ± 1,30 8,40 Weight of new born pigs / litter kg 36 16,94 a ± 0,14 4,97 36 17,05 a ± 0,24 8,56 Weight of new born pigs/head kg 36 1,62 a ± 0,01 3,89 36 1,63 a ± 0,01 3,30 Number of weaners / litter head 36 9,47 ± 0,34 15,55 36 9,38 ± 0,27 14,00 Weight of weaners kg 36 53,81 ± 0,16 15,24 36 67,50 ± 1,98 15,20 Weight of weaners kg 36 5,72 ± 0,21 16,98 36 7,41 ± 0,12 10,97 Weight loss of sow % 36 10,17 a ± 0,56 17,56 36 11,80 b ± 0,43 25,59 Re-estrus after separated day 36 5,11 a ± 0,34 39,73 36 6,75 b ± 0,68 60,59 * Note: The different subdescription letters in the same row are significantly differed with (P <0,05) 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Con Sè con ss/æ Sè con ss cßn sống/æ Sè con cai s÷a/æ Thí nghiệm Đối chứng Figure 3. Number of newborns/litter, the number of alive newborn pigs and number of weaned pigs/litter of experimental sows in the next litter Table 8. FCR of pigs till 60-day-of age Categories Experimental group Control group n (head) Amount of feed (kg) n (head) Amount of feed (kg) Feed for sows Feed for waiting for copulating sows 36 12,77 36 16,87 Feed for pregnant sows, period 1 36 153,00 36 153,00 Feed for pregnant sows, period 2 36 60,00 36 60,00 Feed for breeding child sows 36 80,00 36 115,00 Feed for 60 –day- old piglets / litter 36 210,54 36 200,49 Total feed for a sow and for piglets until 60 – day- of age 36 516,31 36 545,36 Total bodyweight of 60-day-old piglets/ litter 36 208,93 36 198,31 Total of feed / kg until 60 - day-old pigs 36 2,47 36 2,75 Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu - Đại học Thái Nguyên Trƣơng Hữu Dũng và cs Tạp chí KHOA HỌC & CÔNG NGHỆ 77(01): 69 - 75 75 FCR up to 60-day-old pigs in experimental group was lower than that of the control group, which were from 2,47 and 2,75 respectively, The difference of 0,28 in FCR suggests that early weaning had reduced feed consumption of 1 kg per pig up to 60 -day- old piglets, this is a very important factor in pig production to reduce production cost, to improve economic efficiency in sows keeping. CONCLUSION Early weaning had a positive effect on piglets performance during the stage of 45 and 60 days of age. Early weaning did not affect the susceptibility rate of some gastrointestinal diseases such as diarrhea and coccidiosis. Early weaning did not reduce the reproductive performance of sows in the next litter. Early weaning had stimulated the sow to re- estrus sooner. REFERENCES [1]. Dang Vu Binh (1999), “Phân tích một số ảnh hưởng tới các chỉ tiêu năng suất sinh sản trong một lứa đẻ của lợn nái ngoại” Findings of scientific research (1996-1998), Agricultural Publishing House, p.: 5-8. [2]. “Chăm sóc lợn con sơ sinh” Journal of science and life, No. 48, 06.17.2005, p.10. [3]. Phan Xuan Hao (2006), “Đánh giá khả năng sản xuất của lợn ngoại đời bố mẹ và con lai nuôi thịt” Report of writing in science and technology in the level of ministry [4]. Truong Lang (2004), Cai sữa sớm cho lợn con Da Nang Publishing House. [5]. Tran Quoc Vietnam, Ninh Thi Len, Pham Duy Pham and collaborators (1997) ”Nghiên cứu một số biện pháp kỹ thuật nuôi dưỡng và cai sữa lợn con giống ngoại ở 30 – 35 ngày tuổi”, Scientific results of breeding scientific and technical studies (1996-1997). Agricultural Publisher, p.: 12-20. TÓM TẮT ẢNH HƢỞNG CỦA THỜI GIAN CAI SỮA ĐẾN SINH TRƢỞNG CỦA LỢN CON VÀ KHẢ NĂNG SINH SẢN CỦA LỢN NÁI TẠI VIỆT YÊN, BẮC GIANG Trƣơng Hữu Dũng1, Nguyễn Thị Hạnh2 1Trường Đại học Nông Lâm – ĐH Thái Nguyên 2Trường Cao đẳng Nông Lâm Bắc Giang Kết quả nghiên cứu ảnh hƣởng của thời gian cai sữa đến sinh trƣởng của lợn con và năng suất sinh sản của lợn mẹ giống Landrace, Yorkshire cho thấy: Cai sữa ở 18 ngày tuổi, lợn con sinh trƣởng tốt hơn so với với cai sữa ở 25 ngày, cụ thể: Ở giai đoạn 45 và 60 ngày tuổi, khối lƣợng lợn con cai sữa tƣơng ứng là 13,62; 21,19 kg/con - 13,29 và 20,70 kg/con với (P< 0,05). Đồng thời, cai sữa sớm cho lợn con không ảnh hƣởng đến tỷ lệ cảm nhiễm một số bệnh đƣờng tiêu hóa nhƣ bệnh tiêu chảy và cầu trùng. Cai sữa ở 18 ngày tuổi không làm giảm năng suất sinh sản của lợn mẹ ở lứa tiếp theo và giúp lợn mẹ động dục trở lại sớm hơn, giảm tỷ lệ hao mòn và giảm tiêu tốn thức ăn/kg lợn con 60 ngày tuổi so với cai sữa 25 ngày tuổi, tƣơng ứng là: 5,11 - 6,75 ngày (P< 0,05); 10,17 - 11,80%, (P< 0,05); 2,47 - 2,75kg thức ăn/kg tăng khối lƣợng. Từ khóa: Cai sữa sớm; lợn nái sinh sản, FCR, Etc  Tel: 0912221821; E.mail: truonghuudung_tuaf@yahoo.com Số hóa bởi Trung tâm Học liệu - Đại học Thái Nguyên