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Embryonic survival at day 9, 21 and 35 of pregnancy in intact and unilaterally oviduct ligated multiparous sows

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2016

P. Langendijk ,
T. Y. Chen ,
R. Z. Athorn  and
E. G. Bouwman
P. Langendijk*
Affiliation:
South Australian Research and Development Institute, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy 5371, South Australia
T. Y. Chen
Affiliation:
South Australian Research and Development Institute, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy 5371, South Australia
R. Z. Athorn
Affiliation:
School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy 5371, South Australia
E. G. Bouwman
Affiliation:
South Australian Research and Development Institute, Roseworthy Campus, Roseworthy 5371, South Australia
*
†E-mail: pieter.langendijk@nutreco.com
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Abstract

To investigate the effect of uterine space on timing of embryonic mortality, multiparous sows were left intact (CTR; n=42) or subjected to unilateral oviduct ligation (LIG; n=23), after their first post wean oestrus. Intact sows were killed at day 9 (n=10), day 21 (n=15), or day 35 (n=17), and LIG sows were killed at day 21 (n=11) or day 35 (n=12) of gestation. At day 9, 92% of ovulations were represented by an embryo. At day 21, embryonic mortality was 24% and was not altered by increasing uterine space. At day 35, space per embryo was twice as large in LIG sows (30±3 v. 16±0.8 cm), and implantation length tended to be larger (19.0±1.2 v. 15.5±1.3 cm). Between day 21 and day 35, CTR sows lost another 8% to 14% of their embryos, whereas LIG sows lost none. Embryos tended to be heavier (4.9±0.2 v. 4.3±0.3 g) in LIG sows. In conclusion, embryonic loss in multiparous sows is 24% by day 21 and is not related to space, whereas after day 21 limited space causes additional 8% to 14% embryonic mortality in intact sows only.

Keywords

sowsuterinecrowdingembryosurvival
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 10 , Issue 8 , August 2016 , pp. 1336 - 1341
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2016 

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