Influence of Pig Breeds on Growth Performance and Immunity During Pre-weaning Period

Abstract

This study was conducted to find out the influence of pig breeds on growth performance and immunity during the pre-weaning period. The experimental designed consisted of a completely randomized design and was performed with a total of 892 piglets acquired from 105 Thai native (TN), Meishan (MS), and Large white x Landrace (LWxLR) sows. After farrowing, the piglets were weighted daily until weaning at 21 days of age and the average daily gain (ADG) was calculated. Serum samples were collected from piglets at 12 and 24 h and IgG concentrations were determined by the ELISA technique. The growth performance of LWxLR piglets measured at birth and at seven days (1.43±0.20 and 2.67±0.20, respectively) was higher (p<0.01) than TN (0.65±0.15 and 1.12±0.15, respectively) and MS (1.07±0.02 and 1.97±0.37, respectively). The growth performance of MS piglets was similar (p>0.01) to LWxLR piglets at fourteen and twenty-one days of ages. The ADG of MS and LWxLR were significantly (p<0.01) higher than TN during all lactation periods. However, the piglets of MS showed the highest ADG at fourteen days. The IgG concentrations in all breeds at 12 h were less than 24 h but the values were not considered significant (p>0.01) among the breeds. The present results indicate that different pig breeds did have an effect on growth performance and ADG. Moreover, this study showed that low birth weight of piglets resulted in low growth performance, but IgG concentrations were not found to be different among the breeds.