EFFECT OF DIET FORTIFICATION WITH VITAMIN E AND SELENIUM ON THE REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE OF GILTS UNDER DIFFERENT SYSTEMS OF HOUSING*

摘要

A study was carried out to find out the influence of dietary supplementation of vitamin E and selenium on thereproductive performance of gilts under different systems of housing at swine Breeding unit, LivestockResearch Station, Tamil Nadu. Thirty-six Large White Yorkshire gilts in the age group of 5 months wereselected and randomly divided into 6 groups consisting of 6 animals each. Among these, 3 groups werereared under intensive and 3 groups under semi-intensive system of management. In each system,group 1 was treated as control, group 2 was supplemented with vitamin E 22 IU and group 3 with bothvitamin E 22 IU and selenium 0.3 ppm from five months of age to the time of weaning of their young. Giltsfed with both vitamin E and selenium under semi-intensive system mated significantly (p<0.01) earlier(210.67 +- 0.88 days) than the other groups. The mean litter size, weight at birth and at weaning, and survivalrate up to weaning were significantly higher (p <0.01) in supplemented groups than others. The gilts underboth the systems fed with antioxidants came to oestrus significantly (p <0.01) earlier. The mean weight gainwas significantly (p <0.01) higher in gilts fed with both vitamin E and selenium, whereas the lactationalweight loss was significantly (p <0.01) lower in control groups.