Maternal behaviour and mobilization of body reserves for progeny growth
The maternal behaviour of sows and does differ greatly. Pigs are precocial animals, i.e. piglets seek their mother for feed, whilst rabbits are altricial animals i.e. kits are born helpless and depend on their mothers’ to come and nurse them. However, they share similar problems in commercial produc...
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| Formato: | Second cycle, A2E |
| Lenguaje: | sueco Inglés |
| Publicado: |
2014
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| Acceso en línea: | https://stud.epsilon.slu.se/7161/ |
| Sumario: | The maternal behaviour of sows and does differ greatly. Pigs are precocial animals, i.e. piglets seek their mother for feed, whilst rabbits are altricial animals i.e. kits are born helpless and depend on their mothers’ to come and nurse them. However, they share similar problems in commercial production from a maternal ability point of view. It is thus interesting to study if maternal behaviour has an effect on reproduction performances, and if it can be improved in pig and rabbit production in order to improve productivity. The overall aim of this thesis is to study if there is a relationship between maternal behaviour and the growth and survival of the progeny of sows and does. Since this is a very broad overall aim it has been delimited for this project report. Hence, this project focuses on doe maternal behaviour possibly affecting kit growth between birth and weaning.
Behavioural observations and general measurements were made in two batches of 106 New Zealand White (NZW) rabbit does of the 1777 INRA line from an INRA experimental herd of Pompertuzat (INRA PECTOUL, Toulouse, France). Observations were made on maternal behaviour, avoidance of human, behaviour at handling, nesting behaviour and reaction of the doe to the handling of the kits.
Does gained weight between Artificial Insemination (AI) day 12 and weighing day 26, and lost weight between weighing day 26 and weaning weighing day 33. Does that showed a strong maternal willingness, were calm during handling at the first and second weighing, were agitated during the third weighing, were passive after handling and showed a high level of fur plucking had significantly higher litter growths than does which did not show these behaviours.
The conclusion of this project is that behavioural differences were found between does which affected litter growth. High maternal willingness, calmness during handling and passivity after handling is advantageous for litter growth possibly due to a low level of stress in these does. Agitation during handling also showed to be advantageous for litter growth. Potential reasons for this are that the doe is protective of her kits, or that the does’ temper is slightly more pressed close to weaning. Furthermore, a high level of fur plucking is advantageous for litter growth. However, the topic needs further research in order to clearly determine in what ways maternal behaviour, such as fur plucking, affects the mother and it is therefore hard to define what an overall advantageous doe maternal behaviour is. |
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