Development of a Rapid Test for Detecting Serum Antibodies to Classical Swine Fever Virus

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on March 1, 2011 | No Comments

Classical Swine Fever (CSV) has for the most part been eradicated in Canada, the US, Mexico and western Europe. Although the disease is still present in parts of Asia and the Caribbean. The disease has potential to cause massive economic losses if it is able to infect a herd. If a case is detected it must be reported to the World Organization for Animal Health. The objective of this study was to develop and validate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay ELISA capable of detecting anti-bodies to as many CFVS strains as possible. The objectives of this study have yet to be completed including the development of a rapid test for detecting classical swine fever virus although work is still being done to achieve the end goal. In the coming months there are plans to continue to optimizing the competitive ELISA format using the new lot of recombinant Paderborn E2 antigen. Once all conditions for the cELISA have been optimized, analytic sensitivity and specificity along with limited diagnostic sensitivity and specificity will be evaluated using a bank of highly characterized CSFV antisera. The development of this test system will help pork producers easily test for CSFV and be able to respond faster to an outbreak keeping Canadian pork available for trade.

Preminum Pork Positioning

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on February 28, 2011 | No Comments

Inspire Group Inc. has compiled a presentation about how to market pork as a premium meat and provided specific ways of positioning, marketing and communicating the premium pork category to consumers in a relevant and compelling way. Their intent was to define the target audience and reveal positioning strategies based on consumer wants and needs. A focus group of typical consumers was held and participants were asked questions about their spending habits and questions about how they felt about pork. These results were compiled and recommendations were made about how, based on this information, pork should be marketed and how the perception of pork can be tailored as a premium product.

Swine Liquid Feeding Research Update

Posted in: Nutrition, Pork Insight Articles, Swine Innovation, Uncategorized by admin on February 22, 2011 | No Comments

The Swine Liquid Feeding Association annual research update provides progress reports on three projects they are currently working on. The first project, Emulsifiers for liquid feed involves various ingredient additives and processing techniques that can be used to increase the time it takes for corn to separate from the liquid it is suspended in. The second study Microbes for delivery of epidermal growth factor looks at the potential of additives to liquid feed to improve gut health and growth of weaner pigs. Epidermal growth factor (EGF) was added to feed along with lactococcus lactis (LL) which enhances the effect of EGF. There was proven growth when tested on mice and improved gut health in pigs. Currently when the diet was applied to pigs there was no improvement in growth. The third study Increasing nutritional value of co-products attempts to improve the digestibility of DDGS and wheat shorts by adding microbial inoculants and enzymes. The study has so far found that enzymes improve the nutrient release of DDGS, enzymes and microbial inoculants improve positive fermentation of steeped DDGS, and both additives improve body weight gain without compromising meat quality.  

An observational study on the prevalence and impact of Isospora suis in suckling piglets in southwestern Ontario, and risk factors for shedding oocysts

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Production by admin on February 2, 2011 | No Comments

An observational study was conducted to determine the commoness of Isospora suis oocysts in fecal samples from suckling piglets in Ontario. thee relationship between the presence of I. suis oocysts and diarrhea was also evaluated. Fifty farms and 709 litters of piglets were included in the study. Oocysts were detected on 70% of farms, with 187 litters infected. A litter of pigs that was positive for oocysts was significantly more likely to exhibit diarrhea than a litter that was negative. Management and housing factors were examined with respect to risk factors for the presence of I. suis.

Farms that did not use a detergent when cleaning farrowing crates were 10-times more likely to be positive for I. suis than those that used a detergent (P = 0.007). It was concluded that coccidiosis is a common problem on Ontario swine farms.

Neither the study by Mundt et al  nor the work described here revealed an association between the type of flooring in the farrowing crate environment and risk of I. suis infection. Possibly a much larger study designed to examine this particular aspect may be necessary before the role of flooring can be ruled out as an important risk factor for I. suis infection. The difficulty in interpreting the findings of this trial with regard to flooring type is that there were many different types of flooring designs and materials used on the 50 farms in the study. Overall, this study demonstrated that I. suis oocysts were present in the feces of suckling piglets on many Ontario farms and that the presence of oocysts was associated with diarrhea at the litter level. The work therefore suggests that coccidiosis is likely a common problem on Ontario pig farms.

The Impact Of Inexpensive Nursery Pig Diets On Grower/Finisher Performance and Carcass Quality

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Swine Innovation by admin on January 25, 2011 | No Comments

The relationship between nursery growth performance and grow-finish growth performance has been said to be important but others have said there is no relationship. Traditionally it is assumed that nursery growth performance impacts a pig for its entire life, but recent studies suggest that reduced nursery performance from poor diets does not impact overall growth performance. A study using 96 pigs was conducted to prove the impact of the nursery diet. Pigs were put on one of four diets: complex (C; highly digestible ingredients) or simple (S; corn and soybean meal) with (A+) or without (A-) in-feed antibiotics. Pigs body weight, feed intake and feed efficiency were regularly recorded. Results show that feeding low complexity, and antibiotic-free feed compromises growth performance in the starter phase but induces compensatory growth afterwards and there are no long term effects into the grow-finish phase. Also days to market and carcass quality are not compromised. There is potential to reduce the complexity of starter feed, hence saving money, while still maintaining normal growth and carcass quality.

Effective manipulation of fatty acid profiles in value-added pork products aimed at enhancing contribution of pork to human health

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on | No Comments

N-3 fatty acids have many benefits to human health. It is rather easy to manipulate the fatty acid profile of a pig by incorporating things like fax or fish oil into a corn based diet to increase the amount of N-3 fatty acids in the pigs meat. When a pigs consumes N-3 fatty acids they are largely deposited in the fat of the pigs so easy for humans to consume, although there has been concern about the effects they have on meat quality. Tests were carried out to determine if fatty acids could be incorporated into a pigs diet without effecting quality. To test product quality a test group of consumers were analyzed to see if they would accept N-3 enriched pork.  The findings of these tests shows that value added n-3 fatty acid enriched pork can be produced by feeding pigs flax seed and corn based diets, without compromising pork meat quality, including consumer acceptance.

Expression of angiogenic basic fibroblast growth factor, platelet derived growth factor, thrombospondin-1 and their receptors at the porcine maternal-fetal interface

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on January 17, 2011 | No Comments

Commercial swine breeds in North America undergo two waves of spontaneous fetal loss; one during peri-attachment and another during mid-gestation. Although an exact mechanism for this loss is not known, deficits in vasculature at the attachment sites appear to be a major cause. We hypothesized that a balance between pro-angiogenic andanti-angiogenic factors is needed at the maternal-fetal interface for successful conceptus development. Six selected members of the pro-angiogenic fibroblast growth factor (FGF) and platelet derived growth factor (PDGF) families and anti-angiogenic factor thrombospondin-1 (TSP-1) and its receptor CD36 were quantified and localized at the porcine maternal-fetal interface at early and midgestation time points. Mesometrial endometrium was collected from non-pregnant gilts (n = 8). Endometrial and chorioallantoic membrane samples were collected from healthy and arresting conceptus attachment sites at gestation day (gd) 20 (n = 8) and gd 50 (n = 8). At gd20 arresting conceptus attachment sites were distinguished by decreased vasculature of the placental membranes and decreased conceptus size. At gd50 arresting conceptuses attachment sites were identified by smaller conceptus length and weight measurements. Quantitative real time PCR was used to determine relative transcript levels of genes of interest, and cellular localization was determined by immunohistochemistry in paraffin embedded endometrial sections. At gd20, endometrial samples from arresting conceptuses had elevated transcripts for bFGF, and PDGF-bb than healthy sites (p < 0.05). At gd50, bFGF, FGFR2, and CD36 were more abundant at arresting than at healthy conceptus attachment sites (p < 0.05). Chorioallantoic membrane from arresting conceptus attachment sites at gd20 had elevated transcripts for bFGF, FGFR1, FGFR2 and CD36 compared with healthy sites (p < 0.05). FGFR2 transcripts were more abundant in chorioallantoic membrane from arresting conceptuses at gd 50 (p < 0.05). Immunohistochemical localization of selected pro- and anti-angiogenic factors and receptors revealed their abundance in the luminal epithelium, uterine glands and perivascular areas of endometrium at gd20 and gd50. We provide comprehensive analysis of pro and anti-angiogenic factors at the porcine maternal fetal interface during early and mid-pregnancy. At mRNA levels, the majority of pro-angiogenic factors investigated were elevated at the sites of fetal arrest. These observations contrast with our previous findings of decreased V ascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) family members at arresting sites, and suggest that the bFGF family functions as a compensatory survival mechanism when major angiogenic proteins are decreasing at the sites of fetal arrest.

Effect of local anaesthesia and/or analgesia on pain responses induced by piglet castration

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch, Welfare by admin on January 1, 2011 | No Comments

A study was done to find out if pain could be reduced during piglet castration. By treating pigs with local anaesthesia before castration and analgesia after castration it was determined that the pain reduction was effective.

Group housing insights

Posted in: Pork Insight Articles, Research Watch by admin on December 23, 2010 | No Comments

This article discusses the benefits of group housing dairy calves. The article also talks about things that should be considered when operating a group housing system.

Development of a Plant-based Vaccine against Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus: Research Progress and Future Prospects

Posted in: Ontario Pork, Pork Insight Articles by admin on December 10, 2010 | No Comments

Summary of research into using a plant model to produce an oral vaccine for Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). The disease caused by PRRSV is a major source of economic loss for producers and current vaccines are not effective so development of an effective oral vaccine would be very beneficial to the swine industry. The researchers used the cholera toxin B subunit (CTB) of Vibrio cholerae as an adjuvant, PRRSV GP5 or its neutralizing epitope (GP5-NE) as a vaccine antigen and the tobacco plant as a plant model. Antigen expression in the tobacco plant was successful however of low yield so further research is needed to increase yeild of the viral protein. Legume plants were also studied as an easily administered form of the vaccine.