This study concerns congenital defects in pigs; umbilical and scrotal hernia, cryptorchidism, kyphosis, splay legs, anal atresia, intersexuality and congenital tremor. The aim was to describe and estimate the prevalence of these defects and estimate the heritability for the most frequent defects, scrotal hernia and cryptorchidism in purebred Swedish Hampshire, Landrace and Yorkshire populations. Furthermore, information and opinions from herdsmen in commercial herds was collected and analysed. A low proportion of congenital defect pigs is of importance both from animal welfare and economic point of view. The accuracy of registration of the presence of defects in the litters has a decisive role for the ability to select against these defects.

The objective of this work was to compare the environmentally gentle soil scarification technique Huminmix (with possibilities to do track-grinding/HMMspår, long-scraping/HMMlångfläck and mounding/HMMhög) with conventional disc trencher, concerning seedling establishment and growth of direct seeded and planted Scots pine seedlings. Inventories were made during June and July 2005, in 34 seeded and 6 planted stands from 2000 ? 2004 (1- 5 years old) of lichen- and myrtillus/vaccinum-type in Holmen Skog AB´s district Norsjö in Västerbotten. The Huminmix-technique had been used for HMMspår in the seeded stands and for HMMhög in the planted stands (HMMlångfläck has been used from the year 2006 for direct seeding). The studied stands had been seeded with the same amount of seeds according to stand data.