Influence of sow resistance indices on the growth of their offspring

Abstract

Relevance. Pig breeding is primarily aimed at improving their reproductive and fattening qualities. To a lesser extent, the selection takes into account the indicators of the immune status of animals and their resistance to conditionally pathogenic microflora, apparently because due to the significant variability of individual blood parameters in ontogenesis, work with animals of many generations is required to improve these signs by breeding. The urgent task is to accelerate this process.

Methods. 6 groups of animals were formed, including: 2 groups of 20 young sows of the Durock breed and large white breed and 2 groups of piglets, their offspring; 10 piglets from each group were weighed monthly, their linear measurements were determined. The study of natural resistance was carried out according to the following indicators: lysozyme, bactericidal and complementary activity of blood serum were measuredby conventional methods and in the author’s modification, hemagglutination reactionand bacterial agglutination — by conventional methods, indicators of phagocytosis were determined by conventional methods and in the author's modification.

Results. A new method of comprehensive assessment of the level of natural resistance of pigs based on eight blood parameters — the resistance index (IR) — has been developed. For the first time, two coefficients — repeatability (rw) and persistence (h2) — were used as the statistical weight of traits. It was found that the live weight gain was higher in the offspring obtained from sows with an IR > 60 points. The offspring of highly resistant sows also had an advantage in linear torso measurements.