Nihon Yoton Gakkaishi

Concentrations of vitamin E (hereafter, V.E) in erythrocytes and in the plasma of growing pigs were measured at five growth stages from newborn to shipment (newborn, weaning, ages 2 months, 4 months and 6months). Correlations between erythrocyte V.E and plasma V.E concentrations and between V.E and selenium concentrations in the whole blood were also examined.
Erythrocyte and plasma V.E concentrations changed concurrently and equally ; concentrations were 1.70μg/ml and 2.68μg/ml at newborn, 2.67μg/ml and 2.87μg/ml at weaning, and 1.09μg/ml and 1.44μg/ml at age 4 months, respectively. It appeared that the increase in the concentrations at weaning could be attributed to the intake of V.E secreted in sow's milk. A significant correlation (r=0.734, P<0.01) was observed between plasma and erythrocyte V.E concentrations from newborn stage to age 6 months. Furthermore, a significant reverse correlation (r=0.605, P<0.01) was observed between V.E concentrations and selenium concentrations in whole blood from newborn stage to age 6 months.

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To determine the order of priority for factors affecting the number of litters per mated female (sow) per year (LPSY), production sensitivity analysis was applied. Field data collected from 77 commercial swine farms were used and the order was determined for each farm individually. The factors are gestation length (GL) and lactation length (LL) per farrowing cycle, and wean to first service (WS), wean to cull (WT), first service to conception service (SS), and first service to removal (ST) per sow per year. The prediction equation used was LPSY=(365-WS-WT-SS-ST)÷(GL+LL), and the target values were 11.1 days/(sow·year), 1.1 days/(sow·year), 5.2 days/(sow·year), 9.9 days/(sow·year), 115.0 days/farrowing cycle, 20.3 days/farrowing cycle for WS, WT, SS, ST, GL and LL, respectively. For the first priority, the largest number of farms observed was 32 for SS, followed by 23 for ST, 10 for LL and 8 for WT. Once the actual values for each of the factors are acquired, production sensitivity analysis can be applied and can effectively and practically prioritize those factors.

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