Figures (2)  Tables (5)

    • Figure 1. 

      Effects of carazolol injection at different sites on the stress response in primiparous sows. Note: * indicates a significant difference (p \lt 0.05), while the absence of * indicates no significant difference (p \gt 0.05). The same applies in the figures below.

    • Figure 2. 

      Effects of injecting carazolol at different sites on lactic acid concentration in piglets from primiparous sows.

    • Index Primiparous control group Primiparous muscular group Primiparous vulvar group
      No. of test sows 32 33 34
      Average litter spacing (min) 26.88 ± 11.08a 18.14 ± 5.80b 14.99 ± 3.95b
      Parturition stage of labor (min) 259.59 ± 114.25a 174.42 ± 58.56b 126.85 ± 39.92c
      Time of final discharge (min) 325.37 ± 109.11a 226.97 ± 68.18b 185.09 ± 52.74c
      Total piglets born (n) 12.34 ± 3.81 12.64 ± 2.99 12.62 ± 2.85
      Piglets born alive (n) 10.75 ± 3.49 11.58 ± 2.69 11.97 ± 2.82
      Intrapartum stillbirths (n) 0.59 ± 0.76 0.42 ± 0.61 0.35 ± 0.54
      Piglets assisted at birth (n) 0.31 ± 0.59 0.21 ± 0.49 0.15 ± 0.36
      Piglets infected with meconium (n) 0.34 ± 0.87 0.30 ± 0.53 0.29 ± 0.68
      Piglets with ruptured umbilical cord (n) 0.44 ± 0.80 0.21 ± 0.48 0.17 ± 0.46
      Values with different lowercase letters within columns were significantly different (p \lt 0.05). Values with the same letters within columns were statistically insignificant ( p >0.05). The same applies in the tables below.

      Table 1. 

      Effects of injection of carazolol at different sites on farrowing performance in primiparous sows

    • Index Primiparous control group Primiparous muscular group Primiparous vulvar group
      No. of test sows 32 33 34
      Common postpartum diseases in sows (%) 25.00a (8/32) 12.12b (4/33) 8.82b (3/34)
      Estrus rate within 7 d post-weaning (%) 68.75c (22/32) 78.13b (25/32) 84.38a (27/32)
      Weaning to estrus interval (d) 5.27 ± 1.12a 4.88±0.93ab 4.63±0.84b

      Table 2. 

      Effects of injecting carazolol injection at different sites on estrus induction within 7 d in weaned primiparous sows.

    • Index Multiparous control group Multiparous muscular group Multiparous vulvar group
      No. of test sows 32 33 34
      Average litter spacing (min) 22.00 ± 7.56 18.98 ± 7.01 18.49 ± 6.09
      Parturition stage of labor (min) 266.03 ± 85.84 227.64 ± 101.02 223.97 ± 87.56
      Time of final discharge (min) 330.59 ± 89.29 297.85 ± 102.03 287.47 ± 94.73
      Total piglets born (n) 15.84 ± 3.20 15.82 ± 2.81 15.56 ± 3.01
      Piglets born alive (n) 14.22 ± 2.94 14.21 ± 2.71 14.29 ± 2.91
      Intrapartum stillborn (n) 0.78 ± 0.66 0.70 ± 0.77 0.85 ± 0.82
      Piglets assisted at birth (n) 0.31 ± 0.64 0.18 ± 0.58 0.24 ± 0.65
      Piglets infected with meconium (n) 0.41 ± 0.67 0.27 ± 0.45 0.32 ± 0.68
      Piglets ruptured umbilical cord (n) 0.44 ± 0.67 0.33 ± 0.65 0.47 ± 0.79

      Table 3. 

      Effects of injection of carazolol at different sites on farrowing performance in multiparous sows.

    • Index Multiparous control group Multiparous muscular group Multiparous vulvar group
      No. of test sows 32 33 34
      Common postpartum diseases in sows (%) 28.13 (9/32) 15.15 (5/33) 26.47 (9/34)
      Estrus rate within 7 d post-weaning (%) 68.75 (22/32) 75.76 (28/33) 69.70 (23/33)
      Weaning to estrus interval (d) 4.73 ± 0.94 4.29 ± 0.60 4.43 ± 0.90

      Table 4. 

      Effects of injecting carazolol at different sites on estrus induction within 7 d in weaned multiparous sows.

    • Index Primiparous control group Primiparous muscular group Primiparous vulvar group
      Litter number 11 10 11
      Total piglets born (n) 13.82 ± 0.98 13.50 ± 1.43 14.00 ± 1.18
      Piglets born alive (n) 12.27 ± 1.90 12.40 ± 0.97 12.45 ± 1.63
      Litter birth weight of piglets (kg) 18.36 ± 3.83 19.44 ± 3.39 17.64 ± 4.36
      Average birth weight of piglets (kg) 1.50 ± 0.23 1.58 ± 0.34 1.41 ± 0.28
      Weaning litter size at 21 d (n) 9.90 ± 1.22 10.00 ± 1.15 10.45 ± 1.81
      Weaning litter weight (kg) 59.54 ± 6.11 60.26 ± 6.38 62.74 ± 9.32
      Average weaning weigh (kg) 6.03 ± 0.31 6.05 ± 0.46 6.07 ± 0.71
      Average daily weight gain of piglets (g/d) 215.69 ± 21.15 212.64 ± 31.08 222.07 ± 38.13
      Pre-weaning mortality rate of piglets (%) 19.26 (26/135) 15.32 (19/124) 16.06 (22/137)

      Table 5. 

      Effects of injecting carazolol at different sites on the growth performance of piglets from primiparous sows.