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Abstract

From 74 to 180 days of age, a complete died was offered either ad libitum (AL) or at proportionately 0.8 of the observed consumption (R) to two groups of purebred Yorkshire gilts, comprising 128 and 127 animals, respectively. Half of the animals in each group was sewed at the first detected oestrus, and the other half at the third detected oestrus, according to a plan defined at the start of the experiment. Animals which failed to show oestrus before 240 days of age were culled.At 100 kg live weight (LW), AL gifts were younger (-20 days) and had thicker backfat (+2.3 mm) than R gifts. At the first detected oestrus, AL females were also younger (198 v. 203 days), heavier (127 v. 117 kg LW) and fatter (17.8 v. 14.7 mm backfat thickness) than R gifts. No difference between feeding treatments during rearing was observed in the percentage of females detected on hear before day 240. Seventy-three animals were culled from the start of the experiment until service, half of them (54%) failing to show oestrus. At service, LW and backfat thickness in the four treatments ranged from 117 to 148 kg LW and 14.9 to 19.7 mm, respectively The body fatness, estimated from the ratio of backfat to LW, was higher in AL than in R gilts (0.14 and 0.12, respectively), whereas no difference was observed between El and E3 gilts (0.13 on average). After the first service 15% of the gifts came back into heat but the conception rate was not affected by feeding treatment during rearing.

Keywords

gilts; oestrus; puberty; restricted feeding; unrestricted feeding

Published in

Animal Science
1999, volume: 68, pages: 355-363
Publisher: BRITISH SOC ANIMAL SCIENCE

SLU Authors

UKÄ Subject classification

Animal and Dairy Science

Publication identifier

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800050359

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/79321