Fertility & Infertility in Pig Herds
Nutritional Approaches to Arresting a Decline in Fertility in Pigs & Poultry

Continued genetic development of pigs and poultry has been the foundation of profitable production within a competitive market. However, the challenges of these production increases have undoubtedly taken their toll on reproductive function in all breeding livestock, with the incidence of infertility increasing at an alarming rate. For example, it has recently been estimated that over 40% of sows are culled due to fertility problems, compared to just 2% with feet and leg issues.
This edited collection of papers is taken from a series of seminars, devoted to bringing together some of the world’s leading authorities in the field of pig and poultry reproduction. The fundamental aim being to re-examine the current trends in productivity in the pork and poultry industries, and to identify nutritional means to improve fertility. It considers the effects of essential nutrients in optimising productivity, and discusses innovative applications of nutrition that will help to enhance fertility. The success of such innovations within entrepreneurial integrated systems is also covered, together with the importance of producing a quality chick and piglet at birth/hatching. Finally, the role of management and the need for least cost production is discussed.
Nutritional Approaches to Arresting the decline in Fertility of Swine and Poultry is aimed at livestock farm managers, feed industry consultants, vets, nutritionists and poultry producers as well as students and researchers studying animal and applied biological sciences.

              Contents...

Recent advances in sow reproductive function
• Perspective on sow nutritional requirement estimates
• Case in point - copper
• Feeding management

Nutritional management of reproduction

• Where are we & what do we aim at?
• Targets for gilt preparation
• Gestation feeding
• Lactation feeding
• Sow Longevity
• Mineral needs for reproduction
• Current thinking on organic minerals
• References

  Role of the boar in maximising reproduction: effects of nutrition & management

• Reproduction in boars
• The boar rearing period
• Nutrition of the breeding boar
• Mineral & vitamin requirements of boars
• Feed quality
• Water requirement of boars
• Effects of environmental temperature
• The effects of stockmanship

Organic or inorganic selenium for hyperovulatory first-parity sows?
Antioxidant status, hormonal response, embryo development & reproductive performance

• Long-term effects on selenium-related metabolites
• Short-term effects on selenium-related metabolites & hormone status during the peri-oestral period
• Reproduction performance on day 30 of gestation
• References

  Piglets survival: importance for efficient productivity

• Peri-natal mortality
• Understanding piglet mortality
• Importance of colostrum for the piglet’s survival
• References

Nutrigenomics in pig & poultry production:

• Feeding the genes for fertility
• Using genomic information to understand fertility
• Oligonucleotide microarrays as a tool for examining gene regulation in swine
• Examining fertility issues using gene expression
• Nutrigenomics
• Effects of selenium on gene expression
• Vision of the future

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