Weight gain of piglets subject to different protocols of castration

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Lima M.P.A., Gehrcke M.I., Laskoski F., Cristani J. & Oleskovicz N. [Weight gain of piglets subject to different protocols of castration.] Desempenho de ganho de peso de leitões após diferentes protocolos de castração. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária, 36(2):209-214, 2014. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária, Centro de Ciências Agroveterinárias, Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina, Av. Luiz de Camões 2090, Conta Dinheiro, Lages, SC 88520-000, Brasil. E-mail: [email protected] The aim this study was to evaluate the performance of weight gain of piglets castrated, and three methods of sedation and or local anesthesia compared with the traditional method recommended by the standards of Good Practices in Swine Production. We used 100 male pigs, seven days old, weighing 2.9 ± 0.50 kg, which were randomly divided into four groups: (BP Practice), in which the animals were castrated without anesthesia or analgesia, L (Lidocaine), which received 0.5 mL of lidocaine without epinephrine in each spermatic cord; SL (sedation/lidocaine) which were sedated with tramadol 4mg.kg-1 and midazolam 1 mg.kg-1 intramuscular (IM), associated with the local block with 0.5 mL of lidocaine without epinephrine administered in each spermatic cord, and S (sedation), which received tramadol 4mg.kg-1 and midazolam 1mg.kg-1 IM. Recorded the weight of the animals at birth, the seventh day preceding the castration procedure, and 20 days old at the time of weaning. The data were evaluated by One Way ANOVA (ANOVA) followed by Tukey test (P<0.05). The mean weights of animals at weaning were 6.15±0.86, 6.02±1.06, 5.96±0.19 and 5.51±1.14 and the average daily weight gain, the day of Castration at weaning was 0.23±0.05, 0.24±0.04, 0.23±0.06 and 0.19±0.05 respectively, for BP groups, L, SL and S. There were no significant differences between the values of the groups studied. The use of sedation protocols and or anesthetic to perform the castration of piglets does not influence the performance of weight gain of piglets by the end of motherhood, but bring an added value generated for the welfare of animals during this phase of their development.