Administration of P.G.

600 to sows at weaning and the time of ovulation

as determined by transrectal ultrasound1
R. V. Knox*,2, S. L. Rodriguez-Zas*, G. M. Miller*, K. L. Willenburg*, and J. A. Robb
*Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801 and
Department of Agriculture, Illinois State University, Normal 61790-5020

ABSTRACT: This study determined whether the interval from estrus to ovulation was altered by giving
P.G. 600 to sows at weaning. Mixed-parity sows received P.G. 600 i.m. (n = 72) or no treatment (n = 65)
at weaning (d 0). Beginning on d 0, sows were observed
for estrus twice daily. At the onset of estrus and thereafter, ultrasound was performed twice daily to determine
the average size of the largest follicles and time of ovulation. Weaning age (20.1 0.4 d) did not differ (P > 0.10)
between treatments. More P.G. 600 sows expressed estrus within 8 d (P < 0.01) than controls (94.4% vs 78.4%,
respectively). Parity was associated with expression of
estrus (P < 0.02), with 78% of first-parity and 93% of
later-parity sows exhibiting estrus. However, no treatment parity effect was observed (P > 0.10). The interval from weaning to estrus was reduced (P < 0.0001)
by P.G. 600 compared with controls (3.8 0.1 d vs
4.9 0.1 d). Follicle size at estrus was not affected
by treatment (P > 0.10). The percentage of sows that
ovulated did not differ (P > 0.10) for P.G. 600 and control
sows (90.3% vs 81.5%, respectively). Time of ovulation
after estrus was not affected by treatment and averaged
44.8 h. However, univariate analysis indicated that the

interval from weaning to estrus influenced the interval

from estrus to ovulation (r = 0.43, P < 0.0001). Further,
multivariate analysis showed an effect of treatment
on the intervals from weaning to estrus, weaning to
ovulation (P < 0.0001), and estrus to ovulation (P <
0.04). Within 4 d after weaning, 81% of the P.G. 600
sows had expressed estrus compared with 33% of controls. However, this trend reversed for ovulation, with
only 35% of P.G. 600 sows ovulating by 36 h after estrus
compared with 40% of controls. The estrus-to-ovulation
interval was also longer for control and P.G. 600 sows
expressing estrus 3 d of weaning (45 h and 58 h,
respectively) than for sows expressing estrus after 5 d
(39 h and 32 h, respectively). Farrowing rate and litter
size were not influenced by treatment. However, the
interval from last insemination to ovulation (P < 0.02)
indicated that more sows farrowed (80%) when the last
insemination occurred at 23 to 0 h before ovulation
compared with insemination 24 h before ovulation
(55%). In summary, P.G. 600 enhanced the expression
of estrus and ovulation in weaned sows but, breeding
protocols may need to be optimized for time of ovulation
based on the interval from weaning to estrus.

Key Words: Estrus, Farrowing, Litter Size, Ovulation, Sows

2001 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved.

Introduction

J. Anim. Sci. 2001. 79:796802

(Hurtgen and Leman, 1981; Koketsu and Dial, 1997;

Koketsu et al., 1997). The problem originates from
fewer sows returning to estrus, increased time to return
to estrus, and higher return rates after mating, which
collectively result in lower farrowing rates. Because
suppressed gonadotropin secretion and ovarian inactivity may be involved, exogenous gonadotropins have
been used to stimulate ovarian activity. Both PMSG
(Britt, 1986; Sechin et al., 1999) and PMSG/hCG (Lancaster et al., 1985; Bates et al., 1991; Kirkwood et al.,
1998) have been used in sows at weaning. Generally,
gonadotropins given at weaning improve the percentage of sows returning to estrus and reduce the time to
return to estrus. However, only a few of the studies
indicate an improvement (Lancaster et al., 1985; Britt,
1986; Sechin et al., 1999), and others indicate no change
or even slight declines in farrowing rates and litter

A reduced reproductive performance by sows is associated with season (Hurtgen and Leman, 1980; Love et
al., 1993; Xue et al., 1994), lactation length, and parity

1
This research was supported in part by the Illinois Council on
Food and Agricultural Research (C-FAR) and the Department of Agriculture, Illinois State University. The authors thank Tammy Knox,
Jodi Keubler, and Kevin Kalmer for their excellent technical assistance. The animal care and use committee of Illinois State University
approved the protocol for use of animals in this experiment.
2
Correspondence: 360 Animal Sciences Laboratory, 1207 West
Gregory Drive (phone: (217) 244-5177; fax: (217) 333-8286; E-mail:
rknox@uiuc.edu).
Received June 21, 2000.
Accepted November 28, 2000.

796

P.G. 600 effects at weaning

sizes (Bates et al., 1991; Estienne and Hartsock, 1998;

Kirkwood et al., 1998). Differences in results are not
unexpected when considering differences in seasons,
parity, genetics, housing, and management among the
studies. Despite these differences, most of the previous
studies show that gonadotropins induce more sows into
estrus when seasonal effects are most notable and they
induce more primiparous sows into estrus, which tend
to have greater incidences of reproductive failure than
multiparous sows.
The reason for a greater induction of estrus, but with
little or no improvement in farrowing rate, is somewhat
perplexing. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine whether sow response to P.G. 600 at weaning
was related to follicle development, ovulation, or time of
ovulation and whether the time of breeding influenced
farrowing rate and litter size in sows induced into estrus with P.G. 600.

Materials and Methods

One hundred and thirty-seven DK44 sows (Dekalb
Choice Genetics, St. Louis, MO) of mixed parity were
randomly assigned to receive P.G. 600 (400 IU of eCG
and 200 IU of hCG, n = 72) or no treatment (control, n =
65) at weaning (d 0) across 16 weaning periods (months)
over 1 yr. Average parity for control sows was 2.9 0.2
(parity 1, n = 17, and parities 2 through 6, n = 48) and
for sows receiving P.G 600 was 2.7 0.2 (parity 1, n =
20, and parities 2 through 8, n = 52). Sows received
P.G. 600 or no injection (control) on the day of weaning
(d 0). Immediately before use, lyophilized P.G. 600 was
mixed with 5 mL of sterile diluent supplied by the manufacturer and administered i.m. in the neck using a 38mm 20-gauge needle. Sows were moved on d 0 to an
estrus detection area where they were housed individually in gestation crates and observed for estrus twice
daily at 0800 and 1600 using fence-line contact with a
mature boar for 15 min. Estrus detection continued at
12-h intervals until the end of estrus. Estrus length
was classified as the interval from onset of standing
estrus (0 h) until the last time the female would stand
for the back-pressure test. At the onset of estrus and
thereafter, transrectal ultrasound was performed twice
daily at 0700 and 1700 to determine the average size
of the three largest follicles and the occurrence of ovulation after estrus onset. Ovulation was confirmed with
an additional transrectal ovary scan at 12 h after the
initial observation of large follicle disappearance. Ultrasound was performed using an Aloka 500 V with
a 7.5-MHz linear transducer attached to a polyvinyl
chloride transrectal stabilizing rod. The technique for
transrectal ultrasound has been described previously
(Knox and Althouse, 1999). Ovulation was classified as
having not occurred when the number of large follicles
( 6.5 mm in diameter) present was representative of
the ovulation rate for the line and age of the sow (range:
approx. 10 to 22). Ovulation was classified as in progress and not completed when more than half but notice-

797

ably less than the expected pool of ovulatory follicles

still remained. Ovulation was considered complete
when no large follicles remained or fewer than four
large follicles were still present. Sows were bred at 12
and 24 h after first observed in standing estrus using
semen from a commercial supplier (Dekalb Choice Genetics) diluted in long-term extender at a concentration
of 3.0 109 sperm cells per 80 mL. The semen was
used within 3 to 4 d after collection. The proportion
of experimental sows that expressed estrus and were
mated, were observed for farrowing and for total number of pigs born (alive and still-born).

Housing and Management

After weaning, sows were kept in an environmentally
regulated facility that maintained an air temperature
between 18 and 25C and a lighting regimen of approximately 8 to 10 h of light each day. Sows were fed once
daily 2 kg of a standard 14% CP corn-soybean meal
gestation diet containing 0.65% lysine, 0.75% Ca, 0.60%
P, and 3,300 kcal ME/kg. All sows were given ad libitum
access to water. Approximately 21 d after estrus, sows
were moved into pens in a modified open-front building
with an outdoor run, with 5 to 7 sows in each pen.
Sows remained in pens until they were moved into an
environmentally regulated confinement facility. Sows
were placed into gestation crates at 70 to 80 d of gestation and subsequently into farrowing crates on d 110
of gestation.

Statistical Analysis
The continuous variables studied were as follows:
time of ovulation from onset of estrus (hours), follicle
size at estrus (millimeters), interval from weaning to
estrus and to ovulation, and litter size (total number
of pigs born). The model for the continuous variables
included (where appropriate) treatment, month, parity,
lactation length, interval from weaning to estrus, average diameter of the three largest follicles at estrus,
length of estrus, interval from time of the last insemination to ovulation ( 24 h before, 23 to 12 h before,
and 11 to 0 h before) and associated interactions.
Univariate mixed effects linear model analyses (SAS
Inst. Inc., Cary, NC) were performed with month as a
block random effect and the rest of the independent
variables as fixed effects. Variables that were nonsignificant were removed from the model. In consideration
of the related nature of the variables studied, a multivariate analysis (PROC GLM/MANOVA) of the effect
of treatment on interval from weaning to estrus and
from estrus to ovulation was conducted. This approach
accounted for the correlation between these two variables while testing for the effect of treatment simultaneously on both dependent variables.
Data that measure the length of time until the occurrence of an event, such as days from weaning to ovulation, are called survival data. Analysis of survival data

798

Knox et al.

Table 1. Least squares means SE for sows

administered P.G. 600 or no treatment (control) at
weaning on the continuous variables: wean-to-estrus
interval, average diameter of the largest follicles at
estrus, interval from estrus to ovulation, length
of estrus, interval from last insemination
to ovulation, and total pigs born
Treatment
Item
a

Animals
Lactation lengthb
Wean to estrusc
Follicle size, mmd
Ovulation houre
Estrus lengthf
Last AI before
ovulationg
Total bornh

Control

P.G. 600

SE

P-value

65
20.4
4.9
7.7
43.7
56.9
13.3

72
19.9
3.8
7.7
45.6
54.1
15.7

0.6
0.1
0.2
3.2
4.5
1.9

NS
<0.0001
NS
NS
NS
NS

11.9

10.6

0.6

NS

NS = not significantly different.

a
Number of sows; SE based on 65 sows.
b
Days from farrowing to weaning.
c
Days from weaning to estrus.
d
Mean of three largest follicles at estrus.
e
Hours from onset of estrus to ovulation.
f
Hours from onset (0 h) to last standing response.
g
Hours from last insemination to ovulation.
h
Total number of pigs born alive and still-born.

requires special considerations, such as that the response cannot be negative, and this must be incorporated into any analysis. Hence, in addition to linear
univariate and multivariate analysis, Kaplan-Meiers
nonparametric time-dependent variable analysis
(PROC LIFETEST) was conducted to gain information
on the effect of treatment on days from weaning to
estrus, hours from estrus to ovulation, and days from
weaning to ovulation. The binary traits (occurrence of
estrus, ovulation, and farrowing) were analyzed using
a logistic regression (PROC LOGISTIC) with independent variables as previously described.

Results
The average weaning age (range: 10 to 34 d) was not
different (P > 0.10) between treatment groups (Table
1). Likewise, there was no significant effect of month
or lactation length on the response variables, and hence
both variables were removed from the final models
fitted.
More sows treated with P.G. 600 at weaning expressed estrus within 8 d (P < 0.01) compared with
controls (Table 2). Parity had a significant effect on the
percentage of sows expressing estrus (P < 0.02). Among
first-parity sows, 78% (60%, 89%, representing 95% confidence interval) expressed estrus compared with 93%
(86%, 97%, representing 95% confidence interval) of
second- and later-parity sows. There was no treatment
parity interaction (P > 0.10), and means with 95%
confidence limits indicated that P.G. 600 increased the

percentage of parity 1 (90%, 67 to 98%) and parity 2

and greater sows (96%, 86 to 99%) that expressed estrus
compared with parity 1 (59%, 35 to 79%) and parity 2
and greater sows (85%, 72 to 93%) in the control group.
The duration of estrus was influenced by the wean-toestrus interval (P = 0.02) but not by treatment (Table
1) or any other variable; the duration of estrus was
positively correlated with estrus-to-ovulation interval
(r = 0.71, P < 0.0001).
Follicle size at estrus was not affected by treatment
(Table 1). Follicle size at estrus was associated with
parity (P < 0.05), with least square means for firstand later-parity sows equal to 7.5 0.2 and 7.9 0.1
mm, respectively.
There was no significant effect of treatment on the
percentage of sows that ovulated (Table 2) or on the
average interval from estrus to ovulation (Table 1). Univariate analysis indicated that time of ovulation after
onset of estrus was influenced by interval from weaning
to estrus (P < 0.001). Further, multivariate analysis of
the effect of treatment on the intervals weaning to estrus and estrus to ovulation indicated that both intervals are negatively correlated (r = 0.43) and the Hotelling-Lawley and Wilk test statistics suggested that
P.G. 600 treatment was associated (P < 0.0001) with
significant variation of both intervals. Additionally, the
time of ovulation after onset of estrus was greater for
control and P.G. 600 sows expressing estrus 3 d of
weaning (45 h and 58 h, respectively) than for sows
expressing estrus after 5 d (39 h and 32 h, respectively,
Table 3).
The effect of treatment on the percentage of sows
expressing estrus and ovulating after weaning was examined using Kaplan-Meiers nonparametric survival
analysis. The log rank and Wilcoxon statistics test homogeneity between groups and indicated a significant
effect of treatment on the interval from weaning to
estrus (Figure 1; P < 0.001), on the interval from estrus
to ovulation (Figure 2; P < 0.04), and on the interval
from weaning to ovulation (Figure 3; P < 0.001). Estimates from survival analysis indicate that 8% and 29%
of control and P.G. 600 sows showed estrus 3 d after
weaning, respectively, and, by d 5 after estrus, 75% and
97% of control and P.G. 600 sows showed estrus (P <
0.0001; Figure 1). By contrast, 47% and 35% of control
and treated sows ovulated 36 h after estrus, respectively, whereas 98% and 95% of control and P.G. 600
sows ovulated 72 h after estrus (P < 0.04; Figure 2).
When the overall period from weaning to ovulation is
considered, 8% and 42% of control and P.G. 600 sows
had ovulated by 5.5 d after weaning, whereas 92% and
99% of control and P.G. 600 sows had ovulated by d 7.5
after estrus (P < 0.0001; Figure 3). Treatment was not
significantly associated with the time of last artificial
insemination before ovulation, but P.G. 600 sows
tended to be inseminated slightly more than 2 h earlier
relative to ovulation compared with controls (Table 1).
The farrowing rate was not influenced by P.G. 600
(Table 2) but was associated with the time of the last

799

P.G. 600 effects at weaning

Table 2. Effect of P.G. 600 or no treatment (control) for sows at weaning on the binary
response variables: Percentage of sows expressing estrus,
ovulating, and farrowing
Treatment
Item
a

Animals
Estrus, %b
Ovulate, %c
Farrowing rate, %d

Control

P.G. 600

65
78.4e
(66.7, 86.9)f
81.5
(70.0, 89.3)
67.4
(51.4, 80.2)

72
94.4
(85.9, 97.9)
90.3
(80.8, 95.4)
71.1
(57.0, 82.1)

P
0.01
NS
NS

NS = not significantly diferent.

a
Number of sows randomly assigned to treatment.
b
Percentage of sows expressing estrus within 8 d.
c
Percentage of treated sows ovulating.
d
Percentage of treated sows that farrowed.
e
Least squares mean.
f
Lower and upper 95% confidence interval.

insemination relative to ovulation (P < 0.02). More sows

farrowed when the last insemination occurred at 23
to 0 h before the time of ovulation than when inseminated 24 h before ovulation (Table 4). The significance
of time of the last insemination relative to ovulation
observed for farrowing rate was not evident in the total
number of pigs born (Table 4). Furthermore, P.G. 600
treatment did not have a significant effect on number
of pigs born (P > 0.05, Table 1).

time of ovulation. The breeding protocol in this study

employed twice daily estrus detection with predetermined inseminations occurring at 12 and 24 h after
detected estrus. This methodology may have resulted
in a greater frequency of nonoptimal insemination
times for the P.G. 600-treated sows.
The postweaning period is associated with economic
importance because it affects measures of reproductive
efficiency, such as interval from weaning to estrus, nonreturn to estrus rate, open sow days, farrowing rate,
and litter size. Reproductive failure at the time of weaning has been linked to parity, lactation length, and
season of the year (Koketsu and Dial, 1997). Much of
the failure has been associated with a lack of ovarian
activity, which is thought to originate from reduced
gonadotropin stimulation, increased prolactin levels, or
reduced responsiveness of the ovaries (Britt, 1986; van
de Wiel and Booman, 1993; Kermabon et al., 1995). The
mechanisms for these influences remain unclear, but
P.G. 600 given to sows at weaning induces an increase
in estrogen, an LH surge, and improves return to estrus
in multiparous sows (Saoulidis et al., 1995; Estienne
and Hartsock, 1998) and primiparous sows (Bates et

Discussion
Results of this study show that P.G. 600 administered
to sows on the day of weaning stimulates ovarian follicle
development and results in a greater incidence of estrus
and a shortened interval from weaning to estrus compared with untreated sows. However, these benefits
were not reflected in improved farrowing rates and litter sizes. In P.G. 600-treated sows, the interval from
weaning to estrus was shorter and the interval from
onset of estrus to ovulation was longer than for control
sows. Because of this treatment effect, more P.G. 600
sows received their last insemination 24 h before the

Table 3. Least squares means ( SE) for time of ovulation (Ov) by interval from
weaning to estrus in sows given P.G. 600 or no treatment (control) at weaning
Treatment
Control
a

Interval, d
3
4
5 to 6
a

Ov, h

45.0 7.9
46.9 4.8
39.3 2.7

P.G. 600

Last AI

4
13
34

+
+
+

Ov, h

57.6 3.5
47.3 2.8
32.0 4.6

nc

Last AId

20
35
13

+
+

Interval from weaning to estrus (in days).

Interval from estrus to ovulation (in hours). Least squares mean SE.
c
Number of observations.
d
Time of last artificial insemination occurring 23 h to 0 h (+) or 24 h before ovulation ().
b

800

Knox et al.

Figure 1. Estimated cumulative percentage of sows expressing estrus after weaning in response to P.G. 600 or
no treatment (control) at time of weaning.

al., 1991; van de Wiel and Booman, 1993) and reduces

the interval from weaning to estrus in both primiparous
(Bates et al, 1991; Kirkwood et al., 1998) and multiparous sows (Estienne and Hartsock, 1998; Lancaster et
al., 1985). In this study, P.G. 600 treatment shortened
the wean-to-estrus interval as well as increased the
proportion of sows returning within 8 d of weaning. The
interval from weaning to estrus, although only differing
between treatments by 1 d, would have been much
greater, especially for the control group, if the day to
return to estrus included all sows that expressed estrus
more than 8 d after weaning. In the present study,
parity affected return to estrus rate, with 78% of firstparity and 93% of later-parity sows exhibiting estrus,
but parity was not associated with significant variation
on the number of days from weaning to estrus. However,
P.G. 600 improved the percentage of parity 1 and

Figure 3. Estimated cumulative percentage of sows

ovulating after weaning in response to P.G. 600 or no
treatment (control) at time of weaning.
greater parity sows that expressed estrus, suggesting
a potential benefit for use on both groups of animals.
In the present study, we did not observe an effect of
lactation length on measures of reproductive performance. However, in studies that have observed a decline in reproductive performance, the length of lactation and the reproductive measures affected are not
always in agreement (Levis, 1997; Koketsu and Dial,
1997). With very short lactation lengths of less than 10
d, increases in the wean-to-service interval are observed. However, even with this short length of lactation, farrowing rate and litter size did not differ from
sows weaned at 22 d. Another explanation for our inability to detect an effect of the length of lactation may
be the body condition of the sows at weaning. Although
this was not measured or reported in the present study,
when compared with some other commercial lines of
genetics, the sow line used for this study has been observed to be heavier at farrowing, consume more feed
during lactation, and lose less backfat during lactation
(Moeller, 2000).
Table 4. Least squares means of farrowing rate and
number of pigs born by interval from the time of
last insemination before ovulation (last AI) in sows
given P.G. 600 or no treatment at weaning
Last AIa

nb

Estimated farrowing, %c

Total number bornd

11 to 0 h
23 to 12 h
24 h

28
42
54

79.1 (59.7, 90.6)

80.6 (65.2, 90.2)
54.8 (39.8, 68.9)

11.7 (10.3, 13.2)

11.5 (10.3, 12.7)
10.8 ( 9.4, 12.2)

< 0.02

NS

Figure 2. Estimated cumulative percentage of sows

ovulating after estrus in response to P.G. 600 or no treatment (control) at time of weaning.

Hours from last insemination before ovulation.

Number of sows inseminated.
c
95% confidence interval limits.
d
95% confidence interval limits includes born alive and still-born.
b

P.G. 600 effects at weaning

Results of this study show that P.G. 600 induced

follicle development, resulting in expression of estrus
in 94% of P.G. 600-treated sows, and that these follicles
ovulated in 90% of these cases. Follicle size was normal
and was comparable to controls, and no incidence of
cystic follicles was detected. The follicle size at estrus
was similar to that reported at estrus by Nissen et al.
(1997). Although the significance remains unknown,
parity-1 sows tended to have smaller follicles compared
with later-parity sows, which could reflect lower natural gonadotropin production and aid in explaining lower
overall return rates for these sows.
The average time of ovulation was not affected by
treatment, and sows ovulated approximately 45 h after
estrus. Our ability to observe a treatment effect may
have been limited due to the 12-h frequency of ultrasound observation. More frequent observation, at 4 to
8 h intervals, has previously been used to characterize
ovulation times in sows (Soede et al., 1995, Nissen et
al., 1997) and may have been necessary to detect this
effect of treatment. However, the observation frequency
used in the present study does provide information on
the effect of inseminations that occur within 12 h of
ovulation. This is important and practical because most
studies have shown that inseminations occurring 0 to
28 h before ovulation produce maximal fertilization
rates and litter sizes (Soede et al., 1995; Kemp and
Soede, 1996; Nissen et al., 1997). Therefore, observation
at 12-h intervals would provide an opportunity to optimize insemination times before ovulation.
P.G. 600 did influence the interval from weaning to
estrus and from estrus to ovulation, which were related
to one another. Relationships between wean-to-estrus
interval and ovulation hour have previously been reported. In those studies the relationships of wean-toestrus interval and estrus-to-ovulation interval were r
= 0.24 (Kemp and Soede, 1996) and 0.29 (Nissen et al.,
1997), which are similar to those observed in our study
for controls (r = 0.35) and P.G. 600-treated sows (r =
0.47). Despite these significant relationships, it is important to point out in the previous studies and in the
present experiment that more than half of all sows
that return to estrus early or late after weaning do not
ovulate late and early, respectively. Therefore, delaying
the insemination of sows that return early and inseminating late-returning sows early will fail to achieve the
desired results in more than half of the cases. However,
in half the cases in which a relationship did occur, we
observed that the estrus-to-ovulation interval was
longer for both control and P.G. 600 sows expressing
estrus 3 d of weaning (45 h and 58 h, respectively),
compared with sows expressing estrus after 5 d (39 h
and 32 h, respectively). Treatment also influenced this
interval, and, by d 4 after weaning, 81% of P.G. 600
sows had expressed estrus compared with only 33% of
controls. In contrast, by 36 h after estrus, only 35% of
P.G. 600 sows had ovulated compared with 40% for
controls. This pattern continued at 48 h, during which
only 75% of treated sows and 95% of control sows had

801

ovulated. Despite the delayed interval from estrus to

ovulation in P.G. 600-treated sows, P.G. 600 sows ovulated sooner after weaning than controls. By d 6.5 after
weaning, more than 85% of treated sows had ovulated
compared with only 50% of controls. This could be of
importance for scheduling timed inseminations because
94% of treated sows ovulate in a 3-d period, compared
with 3.5 d needed to achieve this proportion ovulating
in controls.
An examination of farrowing rate and litter size in
response to P.G. 600 at weaning in the present study
showed little or no effect compared with controls even
though more animals expressed estrus, ovulated, and
were mated. A lack of effect of P.G. 600 has also been
observed for farrowing rate and litter size by Kirkwood
et al. (1998) and Lancaster et al. (1985), and even slight
decreases were observed by Bates et al. (1991) and Estienne and Hartsock (1998). The reasons for the failure
to improve these reproductive measures were not clear,
but reduced farrowing rates and litter sizes have been
reported to occur in response to season of the year (Love,
1978; Stork, 1979) and the effects of season combined
with parity (Hurtgen and Leman, 1981), the effect of
parity with length of lactation (Svajgr et al., 1974), and
sow housing (Hurtgen and Leman, 1980).
In this experiment, the lack of observed improvement
in farrowing rate despite a 17% (94%/78%) increase in
the number of sows mated is presumed to be due to the
nearly 30% of P.G. 600-treated females that did not
receive their last insemination within 24 h prior to
ovulation. Nissen et al. (1997), Soede et al. (1995), and
Waberski et al. (1994) reported that, when single inseminations do not occur within 24 to +4 h of ovulation (0
h), fertilization rates, pregnancy rates, and farrowing
rates are reduced. This appears to be the most likely
explanation for the observations of the present study
because sows not inseminated within 23 to 0 h range
before ovulation in our study tended to have reduced
farrowing rates. After weaning, 30% of all P.G. 600 sows
returned to estrus within 2 to 3 d, and these animals
ovulated at 55 and 65 h after estrus. Thus, none of
these sows would have received their last insemination
within 24 h of ovulation on a schedule of 12- and 24-h
inseminations after detection of estrus. The 30% of the
animals not inseminated could account for the failed
farrowing rate alone.
From a practical standpoint, Burke (1999) reported
that, based on sow weaning schedules in the USA, 45%
of on-farm semen demand is for Tuesday delivery and
25% of demand is for Thursday delivery. In this typical
industry scenario and in the present study, most sows
are weaned in groups on Thursdays. The bulk of semen
delivery is scheduled for Tuesday; however, one other
delivery day is also needed, either Friday or Saturday,
which allows high-quality semen to be present for sows
that return and must be mated in less than 5 d after
weaning. Previous reports (Dewey et al., 1994) showed
that most sows return to estrus within 5 to 7 d, however,
in circumstances with known genetics, nutrition and

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Knox et al.

management situations, and longer lactations, many

sows begin to return to estrus in 4 to 6 d. In the present
study, sows were weaned on Thursday and semen was
shipped within 1 d of collection for arrival on Saturday
(1000) and on Tuesday (1000). Because many P.G. 600
sows expressed estrus on Sunday and Monday, approximately 51% of these sows were inseminated with semen
that was 72 to 96 h of age, whereas only 25% of controls
received semen of this age. Although it is not clear
whether in this situation this difference could have affected farrowing rate and litter size, inseminating sows
with semen 72 h of age would certainly be more desirable than insemination with semen aged 72 h. Perhaps if this is involved in overall fertility, then semen
collections and deliveries should be adjusted to account
for earlier return to estrus with P.G. 600. We hypothesize that the time of last insemination relative to the
time of ovulation may have masked an effect of age of
semen when mated because sows that expressed estrus
earlier after weaning would have tended to be inseminated with semen of older age after collection. This
older-aged semen could contribute to fewer eggs fertilized or more defective embryos resulting from the combination of aged semen with an increased estrus-toovulation interval in females that returned to estrus
earlier after weaning.

Implications
This study indicates that P.G. 600 can provide significant advantages for inducing more sows to express
estrus and ovulate across different months of the year,
when compared with no treatment. This effect is evident in both primiparous and multiparous sows. However, the time of breeding may need to be adjusted when
using P.G. 600 at weaning in order to achieve improved
farrowing rates and litter size because more P.G. 600
sows express earlier and ovulate later compared with
untreated sows. Perhaps one way to account for this
effect would be to breed sows based on the duration of
estrus because most sows ovulate approximately threequarters of the way through estrus.

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