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The effect of age at puberty on growth and carcass quality at market weight in the gilt
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 September 2010
Abstract
Eighty-nine crossbred gilts were used in an experiment to assess the effects of age at puberty on growth and their carcass characteristics at market weight. From 100 days of age each gilt was exposed daily to a boar and observed for standing heat. The gilts were slaughtered in a commercial abattoir as they reached market weight (approximately 109 kg live weight). Thirty-two gilts (36%) reached puberty before slaughter. These 32 earlier-maturing gilts grew more slowly than the other 57 (P<0·001) yet, paradoxically, within the group of 32 which had reached puberty, there was a significant negative correlation between age at puberty and average daily gain (r=−0·565; P<0·001). Of the 32, the date at first oestrus was known in 30 cases. Among these 30, 10 had ovulated more than once (early-maturing) and 20 had ovulated once (intermediate maturing). Consistent with the paradox there was a significant negative correlation between age at puberty and rate of gain within each group but the regression line for the early-maturing gilts had a significantly lower intercept, on the gain axis, than that for the intermediate group (P<0·01). There were no significant differences between sexual maturity groups for any of the large number of physical and chemical carcass characteristics studied.
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- Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1981
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