Effects of chronic exposure of diets with reduced concentrations of aflatoxin and deoxynivalenol on growth and immune status of pigs

Posted in: Production by admin on August 11, 2011 | No Comments

This study investigated the growth and immune responses of pigs fed diets containing reduced concentrations of aflatoxin (AF) and deoxynivalenol (DON) from naturally contaminated corn. Sixty gilts (13.9 kg of BW) were randomly assigned to 4 treatments (5 replicate pens per treatment and 3 pigs per pen): A (a control diet without detectable AF and DON); B (a diet with 60 μg of AF/kg and 300 μg of DON/kg); C (a diet with 120 μg of AF/kg and 600 μg of DON/kg); and D (a diet with 180 μg of AF/kg and 900 μg of DON/kg). Pigs were allowed ad libitum access to feed and water for 33 d. Feed intake and BW were measured weekly and pigs were bled (8 mL) on d 33 to measure the numbers of blood cells, to conduct liver function tests, and to measure immunological variables including IgG, IgM, interferon γ, IL4, IL6, and tumor necrosis factor α. One pig representing the average BW of each pen was killed to obtain the liver, kidneys, and spleen for weight, tissue color measurement, and histological evaluation of tissue damage. When compared with A, pigs in C and D tended to have reduced ADG (0.52 vs. 0.43 and 0.41 kg/d, respectively) and ADFI (1.04 vs. 0.92 and 0.88 kg/d, respectively). White blood cell count of pigs in D (23.4 cells/μL) was greater than those in A, B, and C (18.4, 18.5, and 16.8 cells/μL, respectively. Serum tumor necrosis factor α concentration of pigs in D (335 pg/mL) differed from those in A and C (299 and 290 pg/mL, respectively). Pigs in B and D had greater fibrosis in liver tissues than those in A. Collectively, this study shows that diets containing both AF and DON greater than 60 and 300 μg/kg, respectively, may reduce growth and decrease feed intake, whereas diets containing 120 μg of AF/kg and 600 μg of DON/kg may result in altered immune health, systemic inflammation, and partial liver damage, causing further reduction in growth of pigs.

To view this complete article please visit: http://jas.fass.org/

The effect of nesting material on the nest-building and maternal behavior of domestic sows and piglet production

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Nest building is an important part of maternal behavior in domestic pigs. The aim of the study was to assess the effect of nesting material sawdust vs. straw on sow behavior 24 h before and after birth of the first piglet (BFP) and piglet production. Sows, housed in farrowing crates, were randomly divided into 2 treatments: sawdust (n = 12) and straw (n = 13). Sawdust and straw were provided during the pre- and parturient period; after parturition, straw was given to both experimental groups. The prepartum nesting period (the time interval between the first and last nest-building records, including all other activity and resting before BFP), the nesting records (number of nesting records), nesting duration (duration of all nesting records), the start and termination of nesting, and the frequency of prepartum postural changes were collected 24 h before BFP. After BFP, number of nesting records and time to first sucking of the litter were collected. Frequency of postural changes and duration of udder access were collected 24 h after BFP during 3 time periods (during parturition, from the end of parturition to 12 h after BFP, and 12 to 24 h after BFP) and the frequency of nursing during 2 time periods (from the end of parturition to 12 h after BFP, and 12 to 24 h after BFP). Piglet BW gain and mortality were estimated 24 h after BFP. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED and the probability of the piglet mortality using PROC GENMOD in SAS. Nesting material did not affect most of sow prepartum nesting behavior and had no effect on the prepartum frequency of postural changes. Sows from the sawdust treatment had a longer nesting period, and nest building tended to start sooner than in the straw treatment. Nesting material had only a small effect on later maternal behavior. Sows from the straw treatment tended to have more nesting records after BFP. The frequency of postural changes was affected by the interaction between treatments and time period: sow from the straw treatment had more postural changes during parturition compared with other time periods and sawdust treatment. No effect of the nesting material on piglet BW gain and mortality was found. The results suggest that sawdust compared with straw as nesting material provided to sows before and through parturition does not negatively affect maternal behavior during the 24 h before and after parturition or piglet production. Therefore, sawdust can be recommended as a suitable nesting material for farrowing sows when straw is not available.

to view this complete article please visit: http://jas.fass.org/

Setting Up an Effective Farm Trial

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Prairie Swine Centre by admin on August 9, 2011 | No Comments

The pork industry is blessed with a number of innovators. I recall surveys from decades ago that compared the speed of adoption of new technology by the various commodity sectors, and pork producers were always very near the top of the chart. Perhaps it is the rapidity of turnover in the barn that lends itself to seeing a difference in management quickly. Maybe the intensive agricultural systems attract a certain type of person with a curious mind? Whatever the reason, it is without a doubt that all pig farms participate to a greater or lesser extent in experimenting to improve productivity, reduce costs, or make management easier. Sometimes the results of such experimentation are as expected – For example the pigs on the higher energy, more expensive diet grew more quickly. Often however the results, the time and effort and money required to innovate and experiment results in more questions than answers and does not lead to an innovation being adopted on the farm as part of a new long-term management strategy. This paper will help to explain why results are not always what we expect and how to improve your odds of success in future on-farm trials. It was found that there are many sources of new ideas and technologies awaiting pork producers. Assessing their economic value and appropriateness for your farm should begin with taking the easy route first and looking for third-party verifiable test results that give you confidence the results are repeatable and sufficient to provide a positive economic return under current economic circumstances.  If reliable information does not exist but you
believe the potential economic benefit is too great to ignore, and you have adequate resources to design and implement an on-farm test then use the Designing your on farm trial – A checklist for success trial checklist to increase your chances for success.

The response of piglets to phase one diets during the first two weeks in the nursery is not affected by creep feeding or weaning weight

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Average litter size on swine farms in Saskatchewan has increased from approximately 10.4 to 11.2 piglets in the past 5 years. Further improvement is expected and moreover is required, to maintain competitiveness of the industry in Western Canada. Research conducted recently at PSCI showed that as litter size increased from 8.4 to 15.4 pigs born alive, average birth weight decreased by approximately 250 grams, or almost 40 grams per additional pig. The number of pigs less than 850 grams increased from 0.2 per litter in the small (5 to 12 piglets) litters to almost 1 per litter in the largest (16 or more born alive) litters. It is apparent that as litter size continues to increase it is crucial that these small pigs survive and go to market or we will lose the benefits of the large litters. The period immediately post-weaning is characterized by problems such as low feed consumption, poor growth rate, and increased incidence of diarrhea (Levesque et al. 2002). Reducing the interval between weaning and resumption of feed consumption can mitigate these issues, thus the piglet must be encouraged to begin consuming solid feed upon entering the nursery.
Our objective was to examine factors which may limit resumption of solid feed in the nursery. Factors examined included provision of creep feed in the nursery, diet quality, and piglet  bodyweight at weaning.  It was found that by feeding a simple diet, formulated to meet all nutrient requirements, did not reduce growth of piglets in this trial when compared to a complex diet fed for 1 or 4 days post-weaning. Switching from a complex to a simple diet after one day reduced feed intake to a greater extent than switching after 4 days post-weaning. The complex diet was approximately $380 per tonne more than the simple diet. Feeding regime B would cost about $0.35 more per piglet than A, and $0.38 more per piglet than feeding regime C. We expect this difference to be greater if the piglets are housed in a more competitive environment, and have a less than ideal health status.

DON in Swine Diets

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The cool, wet weather we experienced this summer has caused many problems for the farmers in this area. This fall there is one more – there are reports of grain that is contaminated with fusarium mould.  Deoxynivalenol (a.k.a. DON, vomitoxin) is a mycotoxin that can be produced when fusarium moulds contaminate cereal grains, including wheat, barley, and corn. Pigs are more sensitive to DON contamination in their feed than other farm animals. Growing beef cattle, sheep, and poultry have an Agriculture Canada Guideline of 5 ppm, while the guideline for pigs is 1 ppm (1 mg/kg) . The most common symptom pigs show when given DON contaminated feed is a reduction of feed intake and a corresponding decrease in weight gain. Some decrease in feed intake will likely be seen if DON contamination exceeds 1 ppm. In research conducted at the Prairie Swine Centre, feed intake and daily gain of late-nursery pigs decreased 9.1 and 5.2%, respectively, when pigs were fed diets containing 1.57 ppm DON for 22 days. Although pigs may vomit at high levels of DON contamination (~20 ppm) it is more likely that they will refuse feed completely (~12 ppm) before that occurs. Younger animals will be more severely affected than older animals. While the general recommendation for swine is to limit DON in diets for pigs to less than 1 ppm, a maximum of 0.5 is preferable for nursery pigs. While there doesn’t seem to be direct negative reproductive effects from feeding DON contaminated diets to breeding stock, the reduced feed intake itself may be a problem. Therefore, DON contaminated feeds should be avoided in diets for breeding stock whenever possible.

Behaviour of Pigs in Large Group Auto-Sort

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Large group auto-sort (LGAS) systems require considerably more effort on the pigs’ part to access feed than in small pens. We studied the pigs’ behaviour in two LGAS systems to determine what adaptations they made. Pigs were able to maintain their typical diurnal eating pattern, with peaks at ‘lights-on and lights-off’ as seen in small pens. However, the pigs modified their eating by having fewer (5 vs 10-15) but longer meals than in small pens. Pigs made use of all of the available feeder spaces within the food court, visiting several each day. Although able to adapt their eating behaviour to the large group system, some had difficulty learning to enter and leave the food court several times a day. Management should ensure an adequate number of feeder spaces, sufficient room to move in the food court, and training methods to facilitate use of the auto-sort scale.

Canola oil sprinkling and low crude protein diet reduce respirable dust and ammonia concentrations from swine production

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It was found that canola oil sprinkling and use of low crude protein diet resulted in significantly lower respirable dust and ammonia concentrations, respectively.  The findings from this study aid pork producers in implementing these measures to improve the barn environment for animals and workers.

Controlling Environmental Emissions from Swine Barns using Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

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In this present study, the eff ectiveness of mixing and filtration methods using zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles to control hydrogen sulphide (H2S), ammonia (NH3) and odour emissions from swine facilities were evaluated under conditions that represent normal swine production. The addition of ZnO nanoparticles into the manure achieved more than 95% reduction in H2S level; no significant effect on NH3 and odour concentrations was observed.  ZnO nanoparticles were persistent in maintaining low H2S level up to 15 days after treatment application. On the other hand, the ventilation air recirculation system with ZnO filter achieved significant reduction in both H2S and NH3 concentrations at the animal- and human-occupied zones.

Evaluation of Water Use and Potential Water Conservation Strategies in Swine Barns

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Existing water conservation management practices from published literature was identified in this study. In addition, a benchmark survey on actual water use per pig produced in different types of swine operations was conducted.  Results from the literature review indicated that animal drinking represented the largest contribution (80%) to total water consumption among all other activities in the barn. The benchmarking survey revealed various options that can be pursued in order to improve water use efficiency in swine operations.

Evaluation of Temperature Conditions in Trucks During Transport of Market Pigs to Slaughter in Four Seasons

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Previous research at PSC has shown significant variation in conditions (temperature and humidity) among different compartments on trucks transporting market pigs. This study examined conditions in truck compartments in greater depth by measuring temperature and humidity variation during transportation of market pigs throughout the year. Pigs were transported from a commercial farm in Saskatchewan to a packing plant on a weekly basis, involving approximately 7.5 hours of travel. Pigs were exposed to variable temperatures during transport in different seasons with pigs transported in the ‘belly’, upper-front and middle-front compartments encountering the least favourable conditions.