Authors
MaryKate Byrd, Luiz FF Brito, Hui Wen, Pedro HF Freitas, Sharlene Hartman, Jacob M Maskal, Yijian Huang, Francesco Tiezzi, Christian Maltecca, Allan P Schinckel, Jay S Johnson
Publication date
2023/11/6
Journal
Journal of Animal Science
Volume
101
Issue
Supplement_3
Pages
311-312
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Description
Lactating sows are among the most heat stress sensitive population in the swine herd. Exposure to high ambient temperatures causes a marked decrease in production measures and welfare in lactating sows and may have a negative downstream impact on piglet growth due to impaired sow lactogenesis. Genomic selection for improved heat stress (HS) tolerance may be a viable method to reduce the negative impacts of HS on lactating sows and their offspring. However, selection for HS tolerance is generally associated with decreased productivity. Therefore, the study objective was to evaluate the impact of genomic selection for thermotolerance on indirect measures of sow milk production under HS conditions. We hypothesized that heat tolerant sows would have a decrease in indirect measures of milk production when compared with heat sensitive sows. A total of 20 multiparous lactating sows (Large White …
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