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Journal of Animal Science and Technology
Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology

J Anim Sci Technol

pISSN: 2672-0191, eISSN: 2055-0391

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5187/jast.2500500

Article

Weaning weight–related differences in growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, and intestinal morphology in pigs

Hyuck Kim1, Dongcheol Song1, Kyeongho Jeon1, Jinmo Yang1, Hyohyun Yu1, Wankyu Lee2, Sangmyeong Lee2, Kwangwon Seo2, Jaeyun Jung3, Joeun Kim4, Yohan Choi4, Yongdae Jung4, Soojin Sa4, Poongyeon Lee5, Soyoung Choi5, Won Yun6, Jinho Cho1
1Department of Animal Science, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea.
2College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea.
3Department of Biochemistry, College of Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 28644, Korea.
4Swine Science Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Rural Development Administration, Cheonan 31000, Korea.
5Animal Biotechnology and Genomics Division, National Institute of Animal Science, Wanju 55365, Korea.
6Central Research Institute, Woosung Feed Co., Ltd, Daejeon 34379, Korea.

© Copyright 2026 Korean Society of Animal Science and Technology. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Dec 27, 2025; Revised: Jan 28, 2026; Accepted: Feb 06, 2026

Published Online: Feb 25, 2026

Abstract

This study was conducted to evaluate whether weaning weight (WW) at 28 d of age could serve as an indicator of postweaning robustness by comparing growth performance, nutrient digestibility, blood profiles, and intestinal morphology of pigs differing in body weight (BW). Among a total of 124 pigs, 74 pigs corresponding to the upper and lower 30% of the WW distribution were selected and assigned to heavy BW (HBW) and light BW (LBW) groups, respectively, and monitored until d 56 of age. In this study, the HBW group showed higher (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05) body weight, average daily gain, and apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, and gross energy than the LBW group. Differences in intestinal morphology were observed, HBW group exhibiting higher (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05) villus height (VH), villus width (VW) and villus height to crypt depth ratio (VH:CD). Blood profiles indicated elevated (<italic>p</italic> < 0.05) cortisol, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and interleukin-10 levels in LBW group, reflecting enhanced systemic stress and inflammatory activation. Correlation analysis further demonstrated positive associations between WW and growth performance and nutrient digestibility, VH, VW and VH:CD while showing negative correlations with inflammatory and stress markers. These results indicate that WW is closely linked to postweaning physiological responses and serve as a practical predictor of robustness, digestive capacity, and growth potential during the nursery phase.

Keywords: Weaning weight; Robustness; Nutrient digestibility; Cytokines; Intestinal morphology