Abstract:

The escalating global temperatures attributed to climate change have markedly amplified porcine susceptibility to heat stress, intensifying related agricultural challenges. The prenatal milieu constitutes a critical determinant for both sow health and offspring developmental trajectories. Contemporary investigations have prioritized delineating the biological consequences of in-utero thermal stress on porcine performance metrics, concurrently elucidating emerging genetic regulatory frameworks. Porcine thermoregulatory constraints manifest through restricted eccrine sweating capacity and elevated gestational metabolic requirements, culminating in exacerbated heat stress vulnerability. Such intrauterine thermal adversity in gravid sows jeopardizes fetal morphogenesis through uterine microenvironmental alterations, adversely affecting vital economic parameters including conceptus viability indices and neonatal anthropometrics, consequently precipitating substantial financial ramifications for international livestock production systems. This comprehensive analysis systematically evaluates the multigenerational impacts of prenatal heat stress on porcine postpartum characteristics, production efficiency, genetic expression patterns, and reproductive outcomes, while deciphering associated pathophysiological and epigenetic mechanisms. The synthesis ultimately seeks to establish an empirical foundation for advanced thermoregulatory intervention protocols and precision breeding initiatives targeting optimized porcine thermal tolerance.

Key words: in-utero heat stress, production performance, physiology, genetic mechanism, sows