ABSTRACT
The study was conducted to determine breed effect on post-partum growth performance traits of three breeds of pigs. A total of 72 piglets derived from three breeds of the domestic pig were used. These comprised 24 piglets per breed which were randomly selected and placed in three replicate pens of 8 piglets per genotype across breed were used for this study. The growth curves showed the same sigmoid growth pattern in Figures 1 to 5. At birth, the Landrace was the heaviest followed by the Duroc and the least was the Large White. At the end of the experiment the trend changed as the Duroc became the heaviest of the three, followed by the Landrace and lastly the Large White. Litter size had very high significant (P<0.001) effect on live body weight in weeks 4 to 16, 20 and 24 to 36 and was significant (P<0.05) at 0 week. At birth those dams with 5 piglets per litter had the highest body weight, followed closely by those with 4 piglets per litter and dams with 3 piglets per litter and lastly the dam with 8 piglets per litter. Litter size and breed had very high significant effect on live body weight and birth weight declined as litter size increased. The Duroc and the Landrace were superior to the Large White breed in live body weight performance and are recommended for pork production enterprise under the Asaba tropical environment. |
