A main factors affecting average number of teats in pigs

Abstract

The influence of factors (breed, year and season of farrowing, herd, parity order, sire of litter, total number of born piglets - TNB, number of piglets born alive - NBA, number of weaned piglets - NW, and linear and quadratic regression) on the number of teats, found for all piglets in the litter till ten days after born, expressed as arithmetic mean for each litter as sum of all teats number of each piglet in appropriate litter divided by number of piglets in this litter at first litter (ANT1) and second and subsequent litters (ANT2+) were analysed. The coefficient of determination was 0.46 and 0.33 for ANT1 and ANT2+, respectively. The statistically high influence (P<0.001) on ANT1 and ANT2+ was determined for year and season of farrowing, herd, parity order (only for ANT2+) and sire of litter effects. Impact of breed was found only on ANT2+ (P<0.001). The rest of factors have negligible of no impact on traits.  Based on the data available for analyses, obtained results will serve as a relevant set-up in developing the model for genetic evaluation for these traits.