Pig production in the Solomon Islands. III. The influence of breed, diet and housing on reproduction and growth

Abstract

In the Solomon Islands pigs grow slowly and sows have small litters. An experiment using 124 pigs in 16 litters from eight sows compared the effect of village breed, village diet and village husbandry which encouraged infection of pigs with Stephanurus dentatus, with the effect of European breed, commercial rations and a system of management which ensured freedom from S. dentatus infection on the productivity of pigs. It was shown that the village diet was markedly inferior to the commercial rations and had by far the greatest influence of any of the three factors studied on the parameters measured. The village breed was not inferior in litter size or growth rate when fed on the village diet, but was inferior in growth on the commercial diet. No harmful effects of the village husbandry system were detected on either type of pig but this may have been due to the lightness of S. dentatus infections.