Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T07:11:59.040Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reproduction in the gilt. 5. The effect of the presence of the mature male during rearing on puberty attainment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

Philippa R. Eastham ,
G. W. Dyck  and
D. J. A. Cole
Philippa R. Eastham
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, University of Nottingham School of Agriculture, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD
G. W. Dyck
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, University of Nottingham School of Agriculture, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD
D. J. A. Cole
Affiliation:
Department of Agriculture and Horticulture, University of Nottingham School of Agriculture, Sutton Bonington, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE12 5RD
Get access

Abstract

Forty Landrace × (Landrace × Large White) gilts were randomly assigned at 70 days of age to each of two rearing treatments. The two treatments were: (1) gilts reared with gilts but kept in complete isolation from other pigs, and (2) gilts reared with visual, aural, olfactory and limited tactile contact with a mature boar. At 160 days of age, all gilts were subjected to a pen change and housed adjacent to either a mature boar for the first time, or to a different mature boar from that with which they had contact during the rearing phase. In addition, gilts were exposed to a mature, vasectomized boar for 30 min each day. They were served twice at second oestrus and the reproductive tracts were examined at slaughter 21 days later to determine ovulation rate and embryo survival. The presence of a mature male during the rearing phase had no effect on the attainment of puberty. There were no significant differences between treatments 1 and 2 for age at puberty (168·1 and 166·9 days respectively), weight at puberty (74·0 and 75·7 kg respectively) and the interval from movement and boar introduction to puberty (8·3 and 7·4 days respectively). The rearing treatments also had no effect on ovulation rate or embryo survival.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 39 , Issue 2 , October 1984 , pp. 277 - 282
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1984

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agricultural Research Council. 1967. The Nutrient Requirements of Farm Livestock. No. 3, Pigs, p 82. Agricultural Research Council, London.Google Scholar
Aherne, F. X., Christopherson, R. J., Thompson, J. R. and Hardin, R. T. 1976. Factors affecting the onset of puberty, post-weaning estrus and blood hormone levels of Lacombe gilts. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 56: 681–692.Google Scholar
Bourn, Phyllis, Carlson, R., Lantz, Beryle and Zimmerman, D. R. 1974. Age at puberty in gilts as influenced by age at boar exposure and transport. J. Anim. Sci. 39: 987 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Bourn, Phyllis, Kinsey, R., Carlson, R. and Zimmerman, D. R. 1975. Puberty in gilts as influenced by boar exposure and "transport phenomenon". J. Anim. Sci. 41: 344 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Brooks, P. H. 1970. Short term nutritional effects on fecundity of sows and gilts. Ph.D. Thesis, Univ. Nott.Google Scholar
Brooks, P. H. and Cole, D. J. A. 1969. The effect of boar presence on the age at puberty of gilts. Rep. Sch. Agric. Univ. Nott., pp. 74–77.Google Scholar
Brooks, P. H. and Cole, D. J. A. 1970. The effects of the presence of a boar on the attainment of puberty in gilts. J. Reprod. Fert. 23: 435–440.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, D. J. A., Dyck, G. W. and Nathan, S. 1982. Reproduction in the gilt. 4. The effect of rearing gilts with contemporary castrated males or intact males on the attainment of puberty. Anim. Prod. 35: 171–175.Google Scholar
Du Mesnil du Buisson, F. and Signoret, J. P. 1962. Influences de facteurs externes sur le declenchement de la puberte chez la truie. Annls Zootech. 11: 53–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, P. E. and Cole, D. J. A. 1975. Reproduction in the gilt. 1. The influence of age and weight at puberty on ovulation rate and embryo survival in the gilt. Anim. Prod. 21: 183–189.Google Scholar
Hughes, P. E. and Cole, D. J. A. 1976. Reproduction in the gilt. 2. The influence of gilt age at boar introduction on the attainment of puberty. Anim. Prod. 23: 89–94.Google Scholar
Karlbom, I. 1982. Attainment of puberty in female pigs: influence of boar stimulation. Anim. Reprod. Sci. 4: 313–319.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, R. N. 1980. Puberty in the gilt. Ph. D. Thesis, Univ. Leeds.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, R. N., Forbes, J. M. and Hughes, P. E. 1981. Influence of boar contact on attainment of puberty in gilts after removal of the olfactory bulbs. J. Reprod. Fert. 61: 193–196.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, R. N. and Hughes, P. E. 1979. The influence of age at first boar contact on puberty attainment in the gilt. Anim. Prod. 29: 231–238.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, R. N. and Hughes, P. E. 1980. A note on the efficacy of continuous v. limited boar exposure on puberty attainment in the gilt. Anim. Prod. 31: 205–207.Google Scholar
Kirkwood, R. N. and Hughes, P. E. 1981. A note on the influence of boar age on its ability to advance puberty in the gilt. Anim Prod. 32: 211–213.Google Scholar
Lindsley, D. B. 1960. Attention, consciousness, sleep and wakefulness. In Handbook of Physiology, Section 1, Neurophysiology. Vol. III (eds. Field, J.Magoun, H. W. and Hall, V. E.), pp. 1553–1593. American Physiological Society, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Mavrogenis, A. P. and Robinson, O. W. 1976. Factors affecting puberty in swine. J. Anim. Sci. 42: 1251–1255.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Paterson, A. M. and Lindsay, D. R. 1980. Induction of puberty in gilts. 1. The effects of rearing conditions on reproductive performance and response to mature boars after early puberty. Anim. Prod. 31: 291–297.Google Scholar
Purvis, K., Cooper, K. J. and Haynes, N. B. 1971. The influence of male proximity and dietary restriction on the oestrous cycle of the rat. J. Reprod. Fert. 27: 167–176.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sharpless, S. and Jasper, H. 1956. Habituation of the arousal reaction. Brain 79: 655–680.Google Scholar
Thompson, L. H. and Savage, J. S. 1978. Age at puberty and ovulation rate in gilts in confinement as influenced by exposure to a boar. J. Anim. Sci. 47: 1141–1144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Walker, N. 1979. The occurrence of puberty in gilts reared in the presence or absence of growing boars. Rec. Agric. Res. 27: 1–4.Google Scholar
Zimmerman, D. R., Bourn, P. and Donovan, D. 1976. Effect of “transport phenomenon” stimuli and boar exposure on puberty in gilts. J. Anim. Sci. 42: 1362 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Zimmerman, D. R., Carlson, R. and Nippert, L. 1969. Age at puberty in gilts as affected by daily heat checks with a boar. J. Anim. Sci. 29: 203 (Abstr.).Google Scholar