An experiment involving 320 gilts was conducted to investigate the effects of age and growth traits on puberty attainment and reproductive performance in gilts given boar stimulation with or without exogenous gonadotropins. Following ad libitum feeding during rearing, groups of gilts were stimulated for puberty at one of four ages, namely 130, 150, 170 or 190 days. Within each age group, gilts were selected to maximize the variation in live weight, relocated, mixed and allocated to two treatments in a randomized-block design: (a) mature boar contact (boars only) and (b) boar contact plus an intramuscular injection of 400 i.u. pregnant mare's serum gonadotropin + 200 i.u. human chorionic gonadotropin (boars + PG600). Gilts were mated at puberty and slaughtered at 35 days post coitum.For the gilts on the boars-only treatment, the interval from stimulation to puberty decreased significantly (P < 0-05) and became less variable with ascending age at stimulation. Increasing live weight at a given age also reduced the interval from stimulation to puberty. Multiple regression equations involving age, live weight and backfat thickness at stimulation and growth rate from birth to stimulation were calculated to obtain a prediction equation for the interval from stimulation to puberty. The effects of age and live weight at mating on ovulation rate, embryo survival and number of live embryos 35 days post coitum were not significant.For the gilts on the boars + PG600 treatment, 92% attained puberty within 6 days of treatment, with a non-significant trend to improve with increasing age. Mating rates were similar to those on the boars-only treatment (90%). Ovulation rates were higher (P < 0-001) but embryo survival rates were lower (P < 0-001) in the boars + PG600 group, resulting in similar litter size at 35 days post coitum in the boars-only and boars + PG600 treatments. There was a non-significant trend for litter size to increase with age in the boars + PG600 treatment. Thirty-eight of the gilts treated with hormones failed to conceive and 53% were found by ovarian morphology at slaughter to be cycling normally with a tendency for this proportion to increase with age.

A single injection of 400 i.μ. pregnant mare's serum gonadotrophin (PMSG) plus 200 i.μ. human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) has been shown to induce puberty in a high proportion of gilts treated (Burnett and Walker, 198S). However, studies indicate that the hormone treatment may fail to initiate normal oestrous cycling after the pubertal ovulation. The work of Paterson and Lindsay (1981) has shown that housing gilts in contact with boars throughout the cycle after puberty induction will enhance the proportion of animals which maintain cyclic activity to a second ovulation. The purpose of the experiment reported here was to examine the effect of boar contact and the timing of the introduction of boar contact on the maintenance of cyclic activity after puberty induction by PMSG + HCG.

Puberty can be stimulated from about 160 days of age by the introduction of a mature boar usually in accomodation which is novel to the gilt. The interval between stimulation and response is not always predictable and therefore does not facilitate the synchronisation of gilt matings with the mating pattern in an established sow herd. It has been reported previously that a single injection of pregnant mares’ serum gonadotrophin (PMSG) pits human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG)* will initiate puberty. The investigations reported here concern the use of these exogenous hormones as an additional or alternative stimulus to those described above.