Research Article

A novel arrangement of breeding sets has a positive effect on some reproductive parameters in females of the american mink (Neovison vison)

Beata Seremak, Małgorzata Dziadosz, Lidia Felska-Błaszczyk, Bogdan Lasota, Kamil Pławski, Anna Masłowska, Grzegorz Mieleńczuk

1. Acta Sci. Pol. Zootechnica, 10(4), 2011, 105‒114

Abstract. The study was aimed to determine the effect the arrangement of males in breeding sets on the level of selected reproductive parameters. The experiment consisted in alteration of the standard arrangement of animals in breeding sets prepared prior to mating. The modification consisted in an arrangement of males in cages so that each male was placed in the immediate vicinity of two females. The following parameters were analyzed: fertility, prolificacy, litter size, weaning success, and the average number of mating encounters per female. It was found that the average number of matings per one male from the treatment group, in which males were placed alternately with the females, was higher compared to the control group (males in a standard set). A higher percentage of mating males was observed in the treatment group compared with the control group of males. Significant differences in favor of the treatment group were observed within the parameters such as average number of born and live born kits, the mean number of mating encounters, and the length of pregnancy. The results distinctly show the beneficial effects of the modified arrangement of a reproductive mink set, in which males alternate with females, on the overall reproductive performance.

Keywords: American mink, mating sets, reproduction