Table 2.

Least-squares means for the effect of Litter Size treatment on piglet and litter weights, pre-weaning average daily gain, preweaning mortality, and the causes and timing of mortality

Item	Litter Size1
	Decreased	Control	Increased	SEM	P-value
Number of piglets	161	187	213	–	–
Litter size
After cross- fostering	12.1c	14.1b	16.1a	0.30	<0.0001
At 7 d after birth	11.8b	13.4a	14.6a	0.81	<0.0001
At 14 d after birth	11.7b	12.8ab	13.8a	0.44	0.01
At weaning	11.3b	12.6ab	13.3a	0.51	0.03
Litter weight, kg
Birth	16.1b	19.0b	22.0a	1.41	0.0001
Weaning	69.8	73.8	78.0	10.09	0.41
Piglet weight, kg
Birth	1.46	1.46	1.46	0.058	0.97
Weaning	6.17	5.86	5.84	0.184	0.07
Pre-weaning average daily gain, kg	0.243	0.225	0.223	0.0083	0.20
Preweaning mortality, %	7.7b	11.5ab	17.9a	–	0.04
Number of mortalities	14	23	40	–	–
Cause of mortality, % of total mortality within treatment
Crushing	64.3	47.8	47.5	–	0.56
Starvation	28.6	52.2	45.0	–	0.52
Other	7.1	0.0	7.5	–	0.99
Time of mortality, % of total mortality within treatment
Day 1 to 2	14.3	8.7	5.0	–	0.55
Day 1 to 7	50.0	52.2	55.0	–	0.94
Day 8 to weaning	50.0	47.8	45.0	–	0.94
Age at death, d2	8.6	7.9	8.0	1.50	0.96

¹Decreased = 2 piglets less than the sow functional teat number; Control = the same number of piglets as the sow functional teat number; Increased = 2 piglets more than the sow functional teat number.

²Data were transformed prior to analysis using a square transformation to correct for normality and homogeneity of variance of the residuals.

^a,b,cMeans with differing superscripts differ at P ≤ 0.05.