Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T01:41:43.981Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Variation of heart size and its correlation with growth performance and vascular space in domestic pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

T. S. Yang  and
J. H. Lin
T. S. Yang
Affiliation:
Departments of Applied Biology
J. H. Lin
Affiliation:
Comparative Medicine, Pig Research Institute Taiwan, PO Box 23, Chunan, 35099 Taiwan
Get access

Abstract

Heart size of purebred boars (13 Landrace, 12 Yorkshire, and 14 Duroc) and crossbred (Landrace × Yorkshire × Duroc) boars (no. =18) and gilts (no. = 24) was studied. Purebred boars were raised from 30 kg for 110 days and slaughtered. Crossbred pigs of various body weights (30 to 110 kg) were selected and their plasma and blood volume were measured before sacrifice. The variation of heart size of pigs was studied and its correlation with growth performance or to vascular space was investigated. According to the principal component analysis heart size was best expressed by its weight, followed by the thickness of the anterior ventricle septum or the thickness of the left ventricle (LV) wall. The food/gain ratio of boars during testing period was significantly correlated with some size characteristics of their heart including weight, width, and LV thickness. The back fat thickness at 100 kg was significantly negatively correlated with heart weight, heart/body weight ratio, and LV thickness. Thus, selection for growth performance would result in a bigger heart in domestic pigs. In the crossbred study, an allometry fitting of H = 12·18B0·73 (r = 0·96) was obtained between heart weight (H, g) and body weight (B, kg). The fittings of heart weight to blood/plasma volume generated values of r of between 0·79 and 0·75 in allometry models or between 0·84 and 0·80 in linear models. Thus, vascular space is no better than fractional body weight as the basis to express relative heart weight in pigs. It is suggested that the normal exponent relating heart size to body weight in growing pig is effectively 0·75, similar to the exponent of metabolic size, 0·734 or 0·75. Therefore, the size of the heart of domestic pigs varies in size proportionally with the changes of metabolism seen in terms of growth or maybe even reproduction. The wild boar, the ancestor of domestic pigs, has a heart proportionately about 0·5 bigger than modern pigs when scaled according to M0·75. The attribution of metabolic difference to the bigger heart of wild boar is uncertain and needs further elucidation. The trend to bigger hearts in domestic pigs under current selection pressure for leanness should not necessarily be interpreted as returning to a natural form but may reflect a pathophysiological change.

Keywords

growth rateheart girthpigs
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 64 , Issue 3 , June 1997 , pp. 523 - 528
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alaku, O. and Steinbach, J. 1984. Effect of season of birth and sex on heart weight and body weight and their interrelationship in pigs reared in the tropics. Animal Production 38: 495–502.Google Scholar
Brody, S. 1945. Bioenergetics and growth, with special to the efficiency complex in domestic animals. Reinhold Publishing Corporation, New York.Google Scholar
Cliplef, R. L. and McKay, R. M. 1993. Visceral organ weights of swine selected for reduced back fat thickness and increased growth rate. Candian Journal of Animal 73: 201–206.Google Scholar
Davey, R. J. and Bereskin, B. 1978. Genetic and nutritional effects on carcass chemical composition and organ weights of market swine. Journal of Animal Science 46: 992–1000.Google Scholar
Engelhardt, W. V. 1966. Swine cardiovascular physiology — a review. In Swine in biomedical research (ed. McClellan, L. K. R. O. and Burns, M. P.), pp. 307–327. Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington.Google Scholar
Gschwend, T. 1931. Das Herz des Widschweines. VI. Beitrag zur Anatomie von Sus scrofa L. und zum Domestikationsproblem. Vet. Diss. Zuerich. Cited by Engelhardt, W. v. 1966. In Swine in biomedical research, pp. 307–327. Pacific Northwest Laboratory, Richland, Washington.Google Scholar
Kleiber, M. 1975. The fire of life: an introduction to energetics. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Liu, S. K. 1983. Postmortem examination of the heart. Veterinary Clinics of North America: Small Animal Practice 13: 379–384.Google Scholar
Meyer, H. 1992. Ten thousand years “high on the hog”: some remarks on the human-animal relationship. Anthrozoos 5: 145–159.Google Scholar
Pekas, J. C. 1993. Maintenance feeding of 100 kg pigs: effect on carcass lean and fat yield and on gastrointestinal size. Animal Production 57: 455–464.Google Scholar
Robert, S., Dancosse, J. and Dallaire, A. 1987. Some observations on the role of environment and genetics in European wild boars and domestic pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 17: 253–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1988. SAS/STAT user's guide, release 6.03 edition. Statistical Analysis Institute Inc., Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Straub, G., Weniger, J. H., Tawfic, E. S. and Steinhauf, D. 1976. The effect of high environmental temperatures on fattening performance and growth of boars. Livestock Production Science 3: 65–74.Google Scholar
Wachtel, W. 1963. Untersuchungen ueber Herzminutenvolumen, arteriovenoese Sauerstoffdifferenz, Haemoglobingehalt und Erythrozytenzahlen bei Haus- und Wildschweinen. Archiv für Experimentelle Veterinärmedizin 16: 787–789.Google Scholar
Webster, A. J. F. 1989. Bioenergetics, bioengineering and growth. Animal Production 48: 249–269.Google Scholar
White, B. R., Lan, Y. H., McKeith, F. K., Novakofski, J., Wheeler, M. B. and McLaren, D. G. 1995. Growth and body composition of Meishan and Yorkshire barrows and gilts. Journal of Animal Science 73: 738–749.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Widdowson, E. M. and McCance, R. A. 1955. Blood volume and heart size in normal and anaemic swine. British Journal of Experimental Pathology 36: 175–178.Google Scholar
Zweens, J. and Frankena, H. 1981. An improved method for the determination of the plasma volume with Evans Blue. Journal of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Biochemistry 19: 919–924.Google Scholar