Duroc boars have lower progeny mortality and lower fertility than Pietrain boars

In pig production, Pietrain and Duroc lines are often used as terminal sire lines to produce crossbred slaughter pigs. The objective of this study was to identify the differences in paternal fertility and mortality during the suckling period of crossbred progeny from Pietrain and Duroc terminal sire lines. In total, 87 purebred Duroc boars and 68 purebred Pietrain boars were used as terminal sires to produce 1,823 crossbred Duroc litters (D-litters) and 1,705 crossbred Pietrain litters (P-litters) in two production herds. The sows were crosses between DanBred Landrace and Yorkshire (F1). All boars were kept at the same artificial insemination (AI) station, and all semen doses were produced in the same laboratory. The experiment was balanced according to herd, boars, and time, with approximately 13 sows from each herd mated to each boar within each breed. The results showed higher fertility expressed as litter size at birth in P-litters compared with D-litters led to 0.5 higher total number born (TNB) for P-litters (P = 0.0076). However, piglet mortality including number of stillborn piglets was lower in D-litters compared with P-litters (P < 0.0001), and 5 d after farrowing, the average litter size in P-litters ranged 0.4 below the litter size in D-litters (P < 0.027). At 21 d after birth, mean litter size in P- and D-litters were 14.5 and 14.9 piglets per litter, respectively (P < 0.015). This indicated that Pietrain progenies were weaker than Duroc progenies, and it was concluded that use of Duroc boars as the terminal sire line led to lower piglet mortality. In the two herds, the mean piglet mortality rate including still born piglets ranged from 19.5% to 23.6% and from 17.6% to 19.1% in P- and D-litters, respectively.