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Accessory sex glands as a tool to measure the efficacy of immunocastration in male pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2010

M. Bonneau
M. Bonneau*
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR 1079 Systèmes d’Elevage Nutrition Animale et Humaine, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France
*
†E-mail: michel.bonneau@rennes.inra.fr
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Abstract

The use of an anti-gonadotropin-releasing hormone vaccine for immunocastration of male pigs has been recently approved in the European Union. This technique is potentially useful for avoiding both castration-associated pain for the animal and boar taint in pork. However, some animals may escape immunocastration and be slaughtered as entire males, potentially exhibiting boar taint. Therefore, it is important to check the efficacy of immunocastration on the slaughter line. To achieve that, the currently proposed method, based on testis weight, is not fully reliable because there is some overlap in the distributions of testis weight between immunocastrates and entire males. On the basis of literature data on the effect of immunocastration on the development of accessory sex glands, this paper provides evidence that the weight of seminal vesicles might be a much better criterion for checking the efficacy of immunocastration, because their size decreases more rapidly, and to a greater extent, than that of the testis.

Keywords

male pig, immunocastration, boar taint, sex glands
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 4 , Issue 6 , June 2010 , pp. 930 - 932
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2010

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