Piglets’ behaviour and performance in relation to sow characteristics

• Published in: Animal (Cambridge, England) England), 2023-02, Vol.17 (2), p.100699-100699, Article 100699
• Main Authors: Baxter, Emma M., Hall, Sarah A., Farish, Marianne, Donbavand, Jo, Brims, Mark, Jack, Mhairi, Lawrence, Alistair B., Camerlink, Irene
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Animals, Newborn; Coping ability; Female; Humans; Hydrocortisone; Lactation - physiology; Litter Size; Maternal behaviour; Parturition; Physiology; Pig; Pregnancy; Suckling behaviour; Swine; Weaning
• ISSN: 1751-7311; 1751-732X
• DOI: 10.1016/j.animal.2022.100699

•The sow’s role beyond nutrition is, in commercial pig production, largely ignored.•We investigated how maternal characteristics contribute to offspring outcomes.•Sows with lower cortisol concentrations showed better nursing behaviour.•Piglets from sows with lower cortisol concentrations grew better.•Reducing sow stress during lactation improves sow and piglet performance and welfare. The importance of maternal care in commercial pig production is largely ignored. The sow has little possibility to interact with her piglets, and piglets are often subjected to early weaning or artificial rearing. This study aimed to investigate aspects of physiological and behavioural maternal provisioning that contribute to offspring outcomes. We hypothesised that better maternal care and nutritional provisioning would relate positively to piglet immunity, growth and behaviour. Nineteen sows and their litters were studied in free-farrowing pens. Oxytocin and tumour necrosis factor-α in colostrum/milk and salivary cortisol were sampled from sows throughout lactation. Sows were assessed for dominance rank, response to handling, maternal defensiveness, suckling initiation and termination, posture and sow-piglet contact. Piglets were weighed, measured for body mass index (BMI) and sampled for blood (Immunoglobulin G; at birth). After weaning, they experienced a human approach test (HAT) and novel object test. Correlations were explored between individual sow characteristics, individual piglet outcomes, and between sow characteristics and piglet outcomes averaged by litter. Significant correlations between sow and piglet factors were analysed at the litter level in mixed models with piglet outcomes as response variables and sow characteristics as predictor variables, while accounting for sow parity, litter size and batch. Litters grew faster when their sow had lower cortisol values (P = 0.03), while sows with lower cortisol levels had more successful suckling bouts and engaged in greater amounts of sow-piglet contact. Litters had a lower BMI at weaning when the sow had a higher milk fat percentage at d3. Litters of the most dominant sows took longer to approach the human in the HAT, while litters of sows with higher cortisol at d0 took longer to approach the novel object when assessed on correlations (r = 0.82, P