Preserving the current diversity of the living material on Earth is fundamental for the survival of future generations . A study was conducted to investigate the genetic diversity of Ukrainian local pig breeds. A total of 350 pigs representing five local pig breeds from Ukraine (Mirgorod – MIR, Poltava Meat – PM, Ukrainian Meat – UM, Ukrainian White Steppe – UWS and Ukrainian Spotted Steppe – USS) and one commercial breed (Duroc, DUR) were sampled. Twelve microsatellite loci (SW24, S0155, SW72, SW951, S0386, S0355, SW240, SW857, S0101, SW936, SW911 and S0228) were selected and belong to the list of microsatellite markers recommended by ISAG. The results indicate that there exists, in general, a high degree of genetic variability within the five Ukrainian local pig breeds. However, the genetic variability in the MIR and PM breeds was significantly lower (mean Na = 2.92–3.92; Ho = 0.382–0.411; FIS = 0.178–0.184) than in the other three Ukrainian local pig breeds – UM, UWS and USS (mean Na = 5.00–8.42; Ho = 0.549–0.668; FIS = 0.027–0.066). Thirty-four private alleles were identified among the six analyzed genetic groups which were distributed between 11 of the 12 loci. A high number of alleles typical for the breed (private alleles) was observed in Duroc pigs – 9 alleles did not occur in Ukrainian local pig breeds. The HWE test showed that all of the polymorphic loci deviated from HWE (P < 0.05) in at least one population. Loci S0355 (5), S0386 (4) and SW24 (4) presented a higher number of populations in imbalance. The mean FST showed that approximately 77.8% of the genetic variation was within-population and 12.2% was across the populations. The five Ukrainian local breeds were classified into two major groups, according to the phylogenetic tree, which was based on standard genetic distance. Overall, we found that 92.6% of the individual pigs were correctly assigned (324 out of 350) to the respective breed of origin, which is likely a consequence of the well-defined breed structure. Probabilities from the allocation test of individuals for the six pig genetic groups were estimated with Structure Harvester. In cluster 1 the highest grouping probabilities were found for the MIR (0.917) and PM (0.750) breeds. Local breeds UM (0.824) and USS (0.772) were grouped in cluster 2. Cluster 3 was related to the local pig breed USW (0.873). Cluster 4 presented high allocation probabilities for the commercial pig breed Duroc (0.924). The obtained results are important for the future conservation of Ukrainian local pig breeds.

The data were from 149 pigs from seven pig genetic groups raised in «Tavriys'ki Svyni» Ltd (Kherson region, Ukraine). The following genetic groups were included in our analyses: LW × LW (n = 19), LW × LN (n = 43), LW × PT (n = 13), LN × LN (n = 15), UM × LN (n = 23), UM × PT (n = 17) and UM×UM (n = 16). The objective this work was evaluation of animal reproductive traits using multivariate analysis. Variables measured and derived included total no. piglets born (TNB), no. piglets born alive (NBA), freq. of stillborn piglets (FSB), total litter birth weight (TLBW), average piglet birth weight (APBW), pre-weaning mortality in piglets (PWM), no. weaned piglets (NW), total weaning weight of litter (TWWL) and average piglet weaning weight (APWW). After standardization, multivariate analyses (Cluster analysis and Principal Component Analysis) were carried out using STATISTICA (StatSoft Ltd.) to place pig interbreeding combinations in groups in accordance with their degree of similarity and verify discriminatory capacity of the original traits in the formation of these groups. The tree diagram showed clear distances between the pig genetic groups studied. In the tree diagram obtained from the analysis of the distances between interbreeding combinations, two distinct groups (clusters) were seen, one with UM × LN and UM × UM animals, and the other with the rest of the pig genetic groups in the study. The eigenvalues for the first two Principal Components (PC1 and PC2) together accounted for near 65% of the variance of the pig’s reproductive traits. The first principal component (PC1) explained 34.9% total variation. It was represented by significant positive loadings for TNB, NBA and TLBW. The second principal component (PC2) accounted for an additional 29.7% of the generalized variance and was represented by significant loadings for NW, TWWL and APWW. Thus, PC1 defined no. piglets and total litter birth weight, while PC2 represented no. weaned piglets and total weaning weight of litter. In conclusion, the multivariate methods (Cluster Analysis and PCA) has been proven to be a very effective method to obtain a synthetic judgment of reproductive traits in pig.

Purebred Ukrainian Meat (UM) breed pigs, which came from Limited Liability Company “Tavriyskie Svin'I” herd located in Skadovsky district (Kherson region, Ukraine), were studied. The reproduction traits investigated were total number of piglets born (TNB), number of piglets born alive (NBA), frequency of stillborn piglets (FSB), number of weaned piglets (NW), total weaning weight of litter (TWWL) and average piglet weaning weight (APWW) for sows farrowing between 2006 and 2012. The analysis covered reproductive characteristics of 49 sows in the first nine parities (n = 457 litters). The sows originated from different the UM dam lines. Two month farrowing periods (January/February, March/April, May/June, July/August, September/October, and November/December) were constructed and used for reproduction traits. Data were analyzed by use of general linear model (GLM) procedure with the statistical package MINITAB v. 15. The estimates of reproduction traits for UM sows were 10.73 ± 0.43 ind. for TNB, 9.36 ± 0.39 ind. for NBA, 10.5 ± 2.2% for FSB, 9.07 ± 0.30 ind. for NW, 128.1 ± 5.7 kg for TWWL and 14.39 ± 0.49 kg for APWW. Litter size had a nonlinear effect on probability of stillbirth; piglets from small and large litters were more susceptible to die at farrowing with a minimum probability (near 5.0%) for intermediate litters of 8–10 piglets. Results here indicate that weak genetic variation exists in different the UM dam lines for the reproduction traits. Based on the obtained results it can be concluded that influence of parity on the observed traits of litter size was highly statistically significant (P < 0.05–0.001). The TNB, NBA and NW decreased in the first-second parities and thereafter increased with the number of parities, reaching a maximum in parities 5 and 6. FSB was lowest in parities 2, 3 and 5. Farrowing month significantly influenced some reproduction traits also. Sows farrowing in May/June had the highest NW, TWWL and APWW.

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Improvement of welfare of piglets is one of the key factors which underlie the effectiveness of producing pork and the profitability of pig farming. This article offers a solution to the main industrial problem – creation of comfortable maintenance conditions for pigs using toys which satisfy their ethological needs. Piglets used in the experiment were kept in the swine complex of agricultural production of Agrofirm Mig-Service-Agro Cooperative in Novoodesky district of Mykolaiv Oblast (Ukraine). The objective of the study was assessment of the effect of toys on the behaviour of piglets, level of concentration of hormone serotonin in blood plasma and their energy of growth. The experiment was performed on 120 weaned piglets aged 28 days, which were divided according to the principle of analogues with 60 individuals in each group: I – the control group, the animals were kept with no toys; II – the experimental group, where the animals had toys. During the experiment chronometric monitoring of the piglets’ behavioural acts was carried out using video observation, we extracted blood samples for determination of the content of the hormone serotonin using the method of highly-efficient fluid chromatography and assessed the growth of the piglets. After the end of the experiment, we determined that the presence of toys reduced the intragroup aggression, which was accompanied by decrease in the duration of fights and almost three-fold increase in playing behaviour. Among piglets which had access to toys, the number of individuals observed to bite tails and ears decreased from 11 to 3. In the period of the study, the concentration of serotonin in the blood plasma of piglets who had free access to toys was 10 times higher compared with animals of the control group. Change in the behaviour patterns among the animals of the experimental group led to significant differences regarding the parameters of growth, where probable increase in the live weight at the age of 90 days was observed, which was associated with significant increase in their mean daily weight gain compared with the animals of the control group. This study confirms that use of toys for piglets during growth completion can prevent features of aggression and abnormal forms of stereopathy within groups, increase the live weight and mean daily weight gain and improve emotional condition, which affects the welfare of pigs.