The effect of duroc and pietrain boars on growth ability of piglets

Abstract

The aim of the experiment was to evaluate the effect of Duroc, Pietrain and Duroc x Pietrain terminal boars on individual live weight of piglets and average daily gain of piglets from birth to weaning. The effect of sex was also taken into account in the observation. A total of 306 piglets were evaluated. The experiment proved, that terminal boar significantly affects (p < 0.001) birth weight of piglets, their live weight at the age of 14 days and at weaning. Statistically significant effect of terminal boar was also proved for average daily gain from birth to the age of 14 days and average daily gain from birth to weaning. As demonstrated, the piglets of Duroc and Pietrain boars reached higher live weights in all the observed intervals than the piglets of Duroc x Pietrain hybrid combination boar. The same trend was observed for the values of average daily gain in piglets.