MSD Animal Health (known as Merck Animal Health in the USA and Canada) announced the launch of Porceptal as the newest addition to its Repropig Management System in Europe.
Porceptal induces ovulation in pigs 30 to 33 hours after application, giving producers the ability to artificially inseminate batches of sows at one predetermined time instead of doing multiple inseminations. By timing and synchronising ovulation, Porceptal helps producers simplify their breeding schedule and reduce the amount of time their workforce spends on heat checks and inseminations. A single insemination also allows producers to purchase less semen, but from a smaller number of higher-quality boars, which results in litters that have greater genetic uniformity.
In addition, Porceptal reduces the time between weaning and insemination in sows, meaning fewer non-productive days. Porceptal is used alone in sows following weaning, but in gilts it follows a period of treatment with Regumate, which synchronises estrus. In addition to this product portfolio, Repropig includes a web-based decision-making system that incorporates herd
audits, economic data and performance results to provide customized recommendations and training to help producers meet their goals.
A multi-center, multi-genetic, randomised clinical trial in the EU demonstrated that Porceptal achieved comparable reproductive performance in both sows and gilts, with a single artificial insemination, compared to a traditional breeding protocol with multiple heat detections and artificial inseminations, while providing all the benefits related with the reduced labor, less non-productive days and litter uniformity.
The active ingredient in Porceptal is buserelin acetate, a synthetic gonadotropinreleasing hormone (GnRH) analogue that triggers the release of luteinizing hormone (LH), thereby inducing and synchronising ovulation. Porceptal is administered via intra-muscular or subcutaneous injection.