Maintenance of Pregnancy in Prepuberal Gilts1

Abstract

Fifty-seven-prepuberal gilts 90 to 120 days of age were used to study the effects of various combinations of estrogen and progestogens or the induction of an accessory set of corpora lutea (CL) on the maintenance of pregnancy. A significantly higher (P< .01) proportion of gilts were pregnant at day 30 when treated with estrogen-progestogen combinations or when an accessory set of CL were induced than when no treatment was applied. Five gilts pregnant at day 60 were removed from treatment and two of these farrowed five and six piglets at term. Embryos produced in prepuberal gilts can develop into full-term fetuses provided the gilt receives supplemental hormones.