Influence of individual birth weight and sex on growth of piglets up to 8 weeks of age

Abstract

A study was undertaken to evaluate influence of individual birth weight and sex on growth of piglets up to 8 weeks of age. records of a total of 680 piglets of Landrace, Yorkshire and F₁ (Landrace x Yorkshire) born from 2005 to 2006 at farms in Nam Dinh province were collected and analyzed. Results showed that individual birth weight of piglets significantly influenced their weights at 3 and 8 weeks of age as well as the average daily gains of suckling and postweaning pigletes during the period up to 8 weeks of age. The piglet live weight and average daily gain increased  with increasing individual birth weight. Sex did not significantly influence  live weight and average daily gain of piglets during this period. Therefore light piglets are not recommended to be raised because of  their very low average daily gain