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A note on the effect on puberty in gilts of exposure to a boar between 140 and 160 days of age

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. S. Walton
J. S. Walton
Affiliation:
Department of Animal and Poultry Science, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
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Abstract

Groups of five Yorkshire ♂ x Landrace ♀ gilts were either exposed (BE) or not exposed (NE) to a mature boar commencing at 140, 147, 154 or 161 days of age. Each group of BE gilts was slaughtered 10 days after initial boar exposure, for examination of the reproductive tract, with one of the four NE groups killed at a corresponding age.

NE gilts remained prepubertal throughout. Boar exposure induced ovulation in one gilt at 140 days, two gilts at 147 days, two gilts at 154 days and one gilt at 161 days. Boar exposure also increased uterine weight (P < 0·001). There were no effects of age either on the number of gilts ovulating or on uterine weight. There was a significant positive effect of body weight on uterine weight which was greater in BE gilts than in NE gilts. These results suggest that body weight may be a determinant of the response to boar exposure by gilts between 140 and 170 days of age.

Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 41 , Issue 1 , August 1985 , pp. 127 - 129
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1985

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References

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