Muscle Fiber Number and Growth Performance of Pigs from Sows Treated with Ractopamine

The goal of the trial was to evaluate the effects of ractopamine (20 ppm in the ration) given pregnant sows during three different pregnancy stages (T1: 25 to 50 d; T2: 50 to 80 d; T3: 25 to 80 d of gestation, and T4: control-no ractopamine) on fetal muscle development (through counts of the number of fibers of the semitendinosus muscle), on the growth and carcass characteristics of the progeny. Forty eight weaned piglets (12 per treatment) were assessed for number of muscle fibers, while performance and carcass characteristics were evaluated on a separate 48 animals (12 per treatment) grown to 100 kg. Animals produced by sows treated from 25 to 50 d of pregnancy (T1) resulted in non-significant increase of 6.85% in the number of muscle fibers in the semitendinosus muscle when compared to animals from the control group. Performance results were significantly different (p<0.05), and animals produced by sows from the T1 group gained more weight during the growth I stage (25 to 50 kg) and during the total period (6 to 100 kg) (991 vs. 903 grams, and 844 vs. 772 grams, respectively) when compared to controls. For carcass characteristics, results showed that animals produced by the T1 group of sows were heavier at slaughter (p<0.05) when compared to the controls (T4) (100.17 vs. 93.09 kg). There was a positive correlation between number of muscle fibers and bodyweights, carcass weights, Longissimus dorsi muscle depth and dressing out (0.80, 0.86, 0.67, and 0.50, respectively). Sows treated with ractopamine between 25 to 50 d of pregnancy produced piglets that performed better and had superior carcass characteristics than those produced by untreated sows. The ractopamine used for pregnancy sows (25 to 50 d) can be indicated as a device to increase the progeny performance. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim. Sci. 2005. Vol 18,