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Effects of Fetal Litter Size on Subsequent Lactation in Mice¹

Animal Research Institute, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Canada

ABSTRACT

Four dams and their litters were crossfostered in each of eight lines of mice to examine the relationship between the number of young born alive and 12-day weight of a litter containing two young of her own and two young from each of three other dams in her crossfostering set. Phenotypic correlations within crossfostering sets between live births and 12-day weight ranged from .09 to .15 for four lines of one population (P) and from .12 to .26 for four lines of the other population (Q). Both were associated positively with body weight of dams after parturition. Partial correlations holding this constant ranged from .04 to .08 in P and from .10 to .24 in Q. Standardized partial regressions of dam's weight after parturition on 12-day weight were larger than those of live births in both populations. Squared multiple correlations ranged from .04 to .08 in P and .02 to .10 in Q. The portion of variation of 12-day weights due to live births ranged from .6 to 1.7% in P and from 1.3 to 6.7% in Q, As number born alive increases, 12-day weight increases, suggesting a positive relationship between fetal litter size and milk yield in mice.

¹ Contribution No. 742 of Animal Research Institute, Agriculture Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0C6.