Development and consequences of teat-order in piglets

Rosillon-Warnier, Anne; Paquay, R.

doi:10.1016/0168-1591(84)90051-0

Cited by 48 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“….90th centile) birth weight offspring in the present study. During the first few days of life the piglets compete for access to the teat and it is usually the heavier, more dominant piglets that gain access to the more productive anterior teats (Rosillon-Warnier and Paquay, 1984;Basak and Pan, 1994). Therefore with less variation in body weight between siblings, the L pigs are more likely to gain quicker possession of one teat; this may explain why neonatal growth rate was similar between L and N piglets.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intergenerational effects of birth weight on glucose tolerance and reproductive performance

Corson

Laws

Litten

et al. 2009

Animal

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Women who were themselves small-for-gestational age (SGA) are at a greater risk of adulthood diseases such as non-insulindependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), and twice at risk of having an SGA baby themselves. The aim of this study was to examine the intergenerational pig. Low (L) and normal (N) birth weight female piglets were followed throughout their first pregnancy (generation 1 (G1)). After they had given birth, the growth and development of the lightest (l) and heaviest (n) female piglet from each litter were monitored until approximately 5 months of age (generation 2 (G2)). A glucose tolerance test (GTT) was conducted on G1 pig at , 6 months of age and again during late pregnancy; a GTT was also conducted on G2 pigs at , 4 months of age. G1 L offspring exhibited impaired glucose metabolism in later life compared to their G1 N sibling but in the next generation a similar scenario was only observed between l and n offspring born to G1 L mothers. Despite G1 L mothers showing greater glucose intolerance in late pregnancy and a decreased litter size, average piglet birth weight was reduced and there was also a large variation in litter weight; this suggests that they were, to some extent, prioritising their nutrient intake towards themselves rather than promoting their reproductive performance. There were numerous relationships between body shape at birth and glucose curve characteristics in later life, which can, to some extent, be used to predict neonatal outcome. In conclusion, intergenerational effects are partly seen in the pig. It is likely that some of the intergenerational influences may be masked due to the pig being a litter-bearing species.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Intergenerational effects of birth weight on glucose tolerance and reproductive performance

Corson

Laws

Litten

et al. 2009

Animal

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“…It is generally agreed that piglets are more attracted to the front, anterior teats immediately after birth for reasons yet to be fully established [9,10]. Although it has been shown that heavier piglets gain position of the anterior teats and consequently have a greater weight gain [11], this relationship has not been fully established.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The degree of variation in birth weight within a litter is due to the differences in placental transfer of nutrients to individual fetuses, and restricted nutrient supply is associated with the production of low-birth-weight offspring. During the first days of life piglets compete for the more productive anterior teats [9] and it is usually the heavier, more dominant animals that win their possession [10,11]. Therefore, the postnatal nutritional supply low-birth-weight piglets is further impaired by occupancy of the less productive posterior teats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Influence of Piglet Birth Weight on Physical and Behavioural Development in Early Life

et al. 2003

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The objective of this study was to determine whether body weight at birth influences the physical and behavioural development of the neonatal pig. Sixteen sows and their litters were randomly allocated into four treatment groups. From the normal distribution curve of their birth weight, piglets were sub-divided into three groups: (1) low (<10th percentile) (2) normal (10–90th percentile) and (3) high (>90th percentile).To assess behavioural development, each litter was exposed to a ball placed in the creep area for a period of 1,800 s, and evaluated once over a 3-day period starting on either 5, 7, 14 or 21 days of postnatal life. Their response to, and interaction with, an object was used to calculate a numerical index of piglet behavioural development. Teat order was calculated following observations during consecutive suckling on days 11, 13 and 15 of life, and dominance hierarchy was assessed on day 12, 14 and 16. Individual body weight was recorded on days 0, 5, 7, 14 and 21 of postnatal life. Statistical differences between groups were analysed using general linear model, analysis of variance. Regression analyses were used to determine relationships between physical and behavioural development with teat order and dominance. There was a significant (p < 0.001) relationship between birth weight, growth performance and behavioural development. Behavioural developmental index (BDI) significantly improved (p < 0.001) with age and was also influenced by the day on which the ball was introduced (p < 0.01). Body weight on day 1 of the test was significantly (p < 0.001) correlated to BDI and age at test. Piglets demonstrating compensatory growth were more dominant and exhibited an improved behavioural developmental score than their slower growing littermates. In conclusion, compromised growth in utero can have a detrimental effect on the physical and behavioural development of the neonate. Animals with an enhanced developmental index in conjunction with a higher dominance value exhibited a improved neonatal growth performance.

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“…When birth mass stands out as the key variable to determine intrabrood positions, the evidence entails an unavoidable circularity: provided that there is some sexual dimorphism also at birth, the heaviest offspring in a brood is likely to be a male. In the wild boar, although intrauterine sib competition cannot be discarded, the mechanisms that the mother uses thereafter during development to maintain the initial arrangement strongly suggest that the initial asymmetries are favored (see Le Dividich and Noblet, 1981;Perry and Rowell, 1969;Rohde and Gonyou, 1988;Rossillon-Warnier and Paquay, 1984;Rushen and Fraser, 1989).…”

Section: Evidence So Farmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sex allocation within broods: the intrabrood sharing-out hypothesis

Carranza

2004

Behavioral Ecology

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Selection is expected to cause parents to adjust the sex of their offspring when the environment is predictable during development, and it is expected to affect each sex differently. When several offspring compete for limited resources, the environmental conditions acting on the brood are not a good predictor of the conditions affecting individual offspring. There is evidence for some species that, regardless of any bias in brood sex ratio, the sex of individual offspring within a brood may be related to its position in the hatching/birth/weight rank, in ways that might correlate with the expected share of available resources. Here I propose that parents may be selected to adjust offspring sex within the brood, provided that some depreciable environmental quality is unequally distributed among siblings in a predictable manner. I call this the ''intrabrood sharing-out'' hypothesis and present a graphical model to derive predictions about the relationship between offspring sex and positions within the brood. The model considers that sibling competition not only produces differences in the mean share of resources among siblings, but it also increases the predictability of the share obtained by high-ranking sibs and decreases the predictability of the share for low-ranking ones. Consequently, parents should be selected to deal with such a distribution by promoting the conditions to make it more predictable and then adaptively adjust the sex of particular siblings, especially in high-ranking positions within the brood, rather than to modify the sex ratio of the brood as a whole.

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Development and consequences of teat-order in piglets

Cited by 48 publications

References 10 publications

Intergenerational effects of birth weight on glucose tolerance and reproductive performance

Intergenerational effects of birth weight on glucose tolerance and reproductive performance

The Influence of Piglet Birth Weight on Physical and Behavioural Development in Early Life

Sex allocation within broods: the intrabrood sharing-out hypothesis

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