Italian Journal of Animal Science 2011; volume 10:e46
SHORT COMMUNICATION
Analysis of reproduction
and litter performance
of the Zlotnicka Spotted
breed and its different
crossbreeds
Karolina Szulc,1 Ewa Skrzypczak,1
Anna Panek,1 Damian Knecht,2
Anna Jankowska,2 Zbigniew Sobek,3
Daniel Stanisławski4
1
Department of Pig Breeding and
Production, the Poznan University of Life
Sciences, Poznan, Poland
2 cients of heritability (Crump et al., 1997; Knol
Institute of Animal Breeding,
Department of Pig Breeding, the
Wroclaw University of Life Sciences,
Wrocław, Poland
3 monly used to improve reproduction and litter
Department of Genetics and Animal
Breeding, the Poznan University of Life
Sciences, Poznan, Poland
4
Computer Laboratory of the Faculty of
Animal Biology and Breeding, the Poznan
University of Life Sciences, Poznan,
Poland
Abstract
Zlotnicka Spotted (ZS) is a native Polish
pig breed. It is characterized by low reproduc-
tion and litter performance. This study aimed
to determine the suitability of ZS pigs when
crossed with Duroc and Polish Large White
(PLW) according to reproduction and litter
performance. Data concerning the number of
piglets in the litter, litter weight, litter bal-
ance and piglet wastage were evaluated at
birth, on the 7th and 21st days, and during
weaning. ZS sows in purebred litters had 8.82
piglets at birth. However, the number of
weaned piglets was of particular importance
being only 7.33 heads in this study popula-
tion. Wastage in purebred litters up to wean-
ing was 17.34%. The highest number of
piglets at birth (10.76 heads) and number of
weaned piglets (8.98 heads) were estimated
for D/ZS x ZS litters, although, at weaning,
the heaviest piglets (9.61 kg) came from PLW
x ZS litters. Results show that crossing ZS
sows with Duroc, PLW boars, as well as cross-
ing of D x ZS, improves reproduction and lit-
ter performance.
[page 184]
Introduction
Reproduction and litter performance are
very important factors effecting profitability
of pig fattening because they determine costs
incurred in the production of fatteners (Tyra
and Różycki, 2004). Pigs of the Zlotnicka
Spotted breed, like other European native pig
breeds, are characterized by relatively low lev-
els of reproduction and litter performance
(Barba et al., 2001; Crovetti et al., 2005;
Buczyński et al., 2006; Pietrola et al., 2006;
Franci and Pugliese, 2007; Serrano et al.,
2009). Among all performance traits of pig
reproduction, these have the lowest coeffi-
et al., 2002; Tyra and Różycki, 2004). This has
a considerable impact on effective selection.
For this reason, interbreed crossing is com-
performance (Pietrola et al., 2006).
The aim of this study was to determine the
suitability of Zlotnicka Spotted pigs in cross-
ing with Duroc and Large White Polish based
on reproduction and litter performance.
Materials and methods
Animals
The analysis was conducted on a group of
Zlotnicka Spotted (ZS) sows mated with boars
of Zlotnicka Spotted (control), Duroc (D) and
Polish Large White (PLW) breeds, as well as a
Duroc x Zlotnicka Spotted (D/ZS) crossbreed.
Forty-eight litters were included in the analy-
sis from 4 genetic groups: ZS x ZS, D/ZS x ZS,
D x ZS, and PLW x ZS. In each group, 4 litters
came from primiparous sows and 8 from mul-
tiparous sows. Sows were selected at random.
In each genetic group, there were three sire
groups (1 boar/4 sows). All boars managed in
the herd were used (12 boars). Animals were
kept indoors. Feeding and zoohygienic condi-
tions were identical for all animals and con-
sistent with breeding and production stan-
dards. Piglets were weaned at seven weeks
(49 days) of age. Analyses were carried out
from December 2009 to March 2010.
Statistical analysis
Statistical anaylsis was carried out using
the statistical software package SAS 9.1
(2009). The following traits were analyzed:
number of piglets in the litter, litter weight,
variation coefficient of piglet weight within-
litter, and piglet mortality estimated at birth,
[Ital J Anim Sci vol.10:e46, 2011]
Corresponding author: Dr. Karolina Szulc,
Department of Pig Breeding and Production, the
Poznan University of Life Sciences, ul. Wołyńska
33, 60 - 637 Poznan, Poland.
Tel. + 48.61.8487214 – Fax: +48.61.8487221.
E-mail: karolasz@jay.au.poznan.pl
Key words: Pigs, Zlotnicka Spotted breed,
Reproduction, Litter performance, Crossing.
Acknowledgments: the study was conducted with-
in the framework of the Ministry of Science and
Higher Education, grant no. N N311 266336:
“Analysis of suitability of Zlotnicka Spotted pigs
and their crosses with duroc and Large White
Polish pigs in the production of heavy fatteners,
porcine material for production of raw and raw
maturing products”.
Received for publication: 21 June 2011.
Revision received: 2 September 2011.
Accepted for publication: 14 September 2011.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution NonCommercial 3.0 License (CC BY-
NC 3.0).
©Copyright K. Szulc et al., 2011
Licensee PAGEPress, Italy
Italian Journal of Animal Science 2011; 10:e46
doi:10.4081/ijas.2011.e46
on the 7th and 21st days of life and at weaning.
For these traits, two-way variance analysis
was applied taking into consideration effects
of the genetic group of the litter and parity
order (primiparous vs. multiparous sows)
according to the following model:
Y ijk = µ + ri + pj + eijk
where:
Yijk - measured value of the trait,
µ - population mean,
ri - fixed effect of i-th genotype, i = 1, 2, 3, 4,
pj - fixed effect of j-th parity order (1- primi-
parous, 2 - multiparous),
eijk - effect of random error.
For individual piglet weight and daily
weight gains, three-way variance analysis
was applied taking into consideration the
effect of the genetic group, parity order
(primiparous, multiparous) and effect of
piglet sex (male, female) according to the fol-
lowing model:
Y ijkl = µ + ri + pj + qk + eijkl
where:
Yijkl - measured value of the trait,
µ - population mean,
 Reproduction in Zlotnicka Spotted pigs

ri - fixed effect of i-th genotype, I = 1, 2, 3, 4,
pj - fixed effect of j-th parity order (1 - primi-
parous, 2 - multiparous),
qk - fixed effect of k-th piglet sex (1 - male, 2
- female),
eijkl - effect of random error.
For all traits, the significance of differ-
ences between the genetic groups was veri-
fied using Fisher’s test. For discrete random
variables (for number of piglets born alive, on
the 7th and 21st day of life), the probit transfor-
mation was applied as described by Żuk
(1989), making it possible to replace discrete
random variables with continuous variables.
determined the size of purebred Zlotnicka
Spotted litters for primiparous sows at 8.1
heads at birth and 7.9 heads on the 21st day of
life, while for multiparous sows this was 9.8
and 8.6 piglets, respectively. In their studies,
Buczyński et al. (2006) and Szulc et al. (2006)
recorded more piglets in their litter at birth
than in the present study.
A general trend was observed when com-
paring litter size in different genetic groups.
In all periods of analysis, crossbred litters
from D x ZS and D/ZS x ZS groups were char-
acterized by higher litter size than purebred
litters. Results confirm data obtained in stud-
ies by other authors regarding crossing of
Zlotnicka Spotted pigs (Ratajszczak, 1986), as
well as other European native breeds
(Pietrola et al., 2006; Babicz et al., 2007). The
highest number of piglets in the litter at birth
was recorded for D/ZS x ZS litters. There was
a statistically significant difference (P≤0.01)
between these purebred litters and PLW x ZS
litters at birth and on the 7th day of life. At
weaning, D/ZS x ZS litters were the most
numerous but the difference was significant
only in respect to ZS x ZS. Piglet wastage is a
very important trait. As reported by Knol et al.
(2002), a farmer wants to wean all of his fully

Table 1. Demographic data for Polish autochthonous pigs over recent years.
Results and discussion Years Zlotnicka spotted Zlotnicka white Pulawska°
n n n
In Poland, three pig breeds are used in con-
servative breeding: the Pulawska, the Sows# 2006 182 259 765
Zlotnicka White and the Zlotnicka Spotted 2007 372 258 1153
(Krupiński, 2008). Demographic data con- 2008 596 285 1129
cerning native breeds are shown in Table 1. In 2009 777 384 1035
2010 1027 593 -
Poland, pigs of native breeds make up only a
Litters 2006 257 436 1151
small percentage of the pig population and 2007 497 370 1779
are maintained in small herds. It is important 2008 821 437 1729
to underline that over the last five years, the 2009 1133 596 1642
size of the pig population has been systemat- 2010 1627 897 -
ically increasing. One exception is the Herds§ 2006 18 17 60
Pulawska breed; a slight decrease in the pop- 2007 28 14 74
ulation size was observed in 1,153 sows regis- 2008 36 17 70
tered in 2007 and 1,036 females registered in 2009 29 20 45
2009. Reproductive traits in Polish autochtho- 2010 48 31 -
nous pigs over recent years are shown in °According to Szyndler-N dza et al., 2010; #females which farrowed at least once in the year; §herds with reproductive activity in the year.
Table 2. Zlotnicka Spotted sows are character-
ized by smaller litter size in comparison with Table 2. Reproductive traits of Polish autochthonous pigs over recent years.
native breeds kept in Poland. Two other repro- Years Zlotnicka spotted Zlotnicka white Pulawska°
duction traits, i.e. age at first farrowing and
farrowing interval, also recorded poor results x- x- x-
for ZS sows.
Litter size at birth – head 2006 8.6 9.9 10.6
The economics of pig production depends
2007 8.90 9.94 10.79
considerably on reproduction performance. 2008 9.1 9.8 10.8
The development of crossbreeding schemes 2009 8.89 9.67 10.88
for ZS pigs in commercial crossing is neces- 2010 9.06 9.14 -
sary to improve their production profitability. Litter size on the 21st day of life - head 2006 7.2 8.5 9.7
Such solutions have been used world-wide for 2007 7.66 8.45 9.89
many years. For example, 80% of Iberian sows 2008 7.8 8.2 10.1
were used in crossing with Duroc boars 2009 7.90 8.43 10.09
(Ventanas et al., 2007) 2010 8.97 8.18 -
Reproduction and litter performance Age at first farrowing, days 2006 484 430 345
according to genetic group of the litter are 2007 519 438 345
shown in Table 3. The number of piglets born 2008 468 387 341
2009 434 383 342
alive for purebred litters (ZS x ZS) was an
2010 412 365 -
average 8.82 heads; this is poor. In subse- Farrowing interval, days 2006 207 191 186
quent periods of analysis, this number was 2007 204 195 185
again low; only 7.33 piglets at weaning. The 2008 207 195 185
results obtained were comparable with the 2009 212 190 183
mean figure recorded for the ZS breed in 2009 2010 202 198 -
(Table 2). Ratajszczak and Buczyński (1997) °According to Szyndler-Nędza et al., 2010.

[Ital J Anim Sci vol.10:e46, 2011] [page 185]

 Szulc et al.

Table 3. Reproduction and litter performance results according to litter genotype.

Genotype of litter ZS x ZS D/ZS x ZS D x ZS PLW x ZS
n=12 n=12 n=12 n=12
LSM SE LSM SE LSM SE LSM SE

Number of piglets
born alive, head 8.82B 0.42 10.76Aa 0.43 9.21b 0.45 7.98B 0.47
on the 7th day of age, head 8.12B 0.50 10.33A 0.51 9.18 0.54 7.84B 0.55
on the 21st day of age, head 8.06b 0.51 9.85a 0.53 8.89 0.55 7.84b 0.55
at weaning, head 7.33a 0.52 8.98b 0.53 8.35 0.56 7.54 0.58
Piglet mortality from birth
to the 7th day of age, % 8.34 5.14 5.25 2.44 0.84 0.83 0.77 0.76
to the 21st day of age, % 9.27 5.27 9.67 2.70 4.57 2.05 0.77 0.76
to weaning, % 17.34A 5.97 16.63A 3.79 7.95 2.19 1.69B 1.14
Piglet body weight
at birth, kg 1.55Aa 0.03 1.47Ab 0.02 1.68B 0.03 1.53A 0.03
on the 7th day of age, kg 2.33Aa 0.05 2.48Ab 0.04 2.49Ab 0.05 2.84B 0.05
on the 21st day of age, kg 3.91B 0.09 3.78B 0.09 4.70Ca 0.09 4.40Cb 0.10
at weaning, kg 9.52B 0.21 7.86A 0.20 9.11B 0.21 9.61B 0.22
Litter weight
at birth, kg 13.77 0.73 15.82A 0.76 15.56A 0.79 12.18B 0.82
on the 7th day of age, kg 18.86Aa 1.37 25.66B 1.42 22.95b 1.48 22.61 1.53
on the 21st day of age, kg 31.49A 2.43 36.40 2.52 41.87B 2.62 35.42 2.71
at weaning, kg 69.83 4.55 70.27 4.72 75.85 4.91 74.13 5.08
Within-litter variation of
birth weight, % 12.31 0.06 14.13 0.06 12.31 0.05 14.03 0.06
of 7-day weight, % 16.68 0.08 17.98 0.08 14.86 0.07 14.12 0.06
of 21-day weight, % 21.22a 0.15 18.79 0.16 18.58 0.14 16.79b 0.12
of weaning weight, % 21.04 0.40 19.90 0.35 19.36 0.18 16.49 0.27
Piglet average daily gain
to the 7th day of age, kg 0.11A 0.00 0.14B 0.00 0.12A 0.00 0.19C 0.01
to the 21st day of age, kg 0.11A 0.00 0.11A 0.00 0.14B 0.00 0.14B 0.00
to weaning, kg 0.12A 0.00 0.11A 0.00 0.15B 0.00 0.18C 0.00
LSM, least square mean; SE, standard error; a,bvalues in rows with different lowercase letters differ significantly (P≤0.05); A,B,Cvalues in rows with different capital letters differ significantly (P≤0.01).

formed piglets. When analyzing piglet mortal-
ity, the highest piglet wastage was observed
in the group ZS x ZS litters. Differences found
between groups were statistically significant
only for the period from birth to weaning. In
this case, the lowest wastage was recorded in
the group of PLW x ZS litters and there was a
statistical difference (P≤0.01) between this
group and both crossbred D/ZS x ZS and pure-
bred ZS x ZS groups. Low piglet wastage in
the Zlotnicka Spotted breed was observed by
Ratajszczak (1986) and Szulc et al. (2006).
When studying the individual piglet weight,
the highest weight at birth (1.68 kg) was
recorded in D x ZS piglets. The lightest piglets
came from D/ZS x ZS litters. There is a statis-
tical difference between the average weight
of these piglets (1.47 kg) and that of other
groups. Piglets from these litters were still
the lightest on the 21st day of life and at wean-
ing. The lower weight was probably the conse-
quence of the higher number of piglets in the
litter in this genetic group. As observed by
Wolf et al. (2008), the selection for higher lit-
ter size showed a decrease in the mean piglet
birth weight. The lower birth weight increas-
es mortality of piglets in the period of wean-
ing (Milligan et al., 2002; Damagaard et al.,
2003). For example, Gondret et al. (2005)
reported that light birth-weight pigs were 12
days older at slaughter (at constant weight)
than heavy birth-weight pigs. D/ZS x ZS lit-
ters were the most numerous and were also
the heaviest piglets at birth, despite the fact
that individual piglet weights were the lowest
(15.82 kg). D x ZS litters were slightly lighter,
weighing 15.56 kg. This regularity was not
maintained in successive rearing periods
analyzed. On the 21st day of life, D x ZS litters
were heavier in comparison to ZS x ZS litters.
Within-litter variation of piglet weight is
very important, especially with regard to birth
weight. More deaths were observed in litters
with a high variation in birth weight
(Milligan et al., 2002; Hermesch, 2001). In
our own studies, a higher within-litter varia-
tion of piglet birth weight was reported for the
ZS x ZS group than for the D/ZS x ZS.
Piglet daily weight gain was lower than that
reported by other authors (Buczyński et al.,
1996). Up to weaning, piglets from the PLW x
ZS group had bigger daily weight gains (0.18
kg) than the other litters.
Conclusions
These results show that the Zlotnicka Spotted
breed managed in a pure breeding system is
characterized by relatively low parameters con-
cerning reproduction performance. Crossing of
ZS sows with D/ZS boars increased the number
of piglets born alive in the litter and also the
number of piglets weaned in relation to ZS x ZS
purebred litters. The lowest number of piglets
lost to weaning was observed in PLW x ZS cross-
breeding litters. These litters also showed the
biggest daily gains in this period. This experi-
ment was conducted on a small number of ani-
mals. We intend to repeat it on a larger pig pop-
ulation in the future. This will improve analysis
of the results and their interpretation.

[page 186] [Ital J Anim Sci vol.10:e46, 2011]


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