Different roughages to organic growing/finishing pigs — Influence on activity behaviour and social interactions

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of roughage on organic growing/finishing pigs’ activity behaviour and social interactions. It was hypothesized that access to additional roughage in the outdoor area would make the pigs use this area more frequently and change their activity pattern and access to the roughage would reduce aggressive behaviour and stress among the pigs. The results confirm that access to additional roughage in the outdoor run did encourage pigs to go outdoors more frequently. This suggests that pigs might be motivated to use the roughage to explore and forage. Although straw was provided indoors, access to additional roughage outdoors affected the pigs to be more active and reduced the aggressive behaviour among them. This indicates that roughage is an important resource that might influence the well-being and the behaviour of pigs.

Experimental enteric infection of gnotobiotic piglets with Chlamydia suis strain S45

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Enteric chlamydial infections of pigs with Chlamydia (C.) suis are frequent and often subclinical. The enteric pathogenicity of C. suis strain S45 was investigated in gnotobiotic piglets. Piglets from three litters (n = 31) were inoculated with egg-grown chlamydiae at 2–3 days of age (n = 17) or used as controls (n = 14). They were observed for clinical signs, killed and necropsied sequentially at 2–13 days postinoculation (DPI). Feces were collected daily and investigated with an ELISA for chlamydial antigen. At necropsy, specimens were collected for histopathology and for immunohistochemical, PCR-based, and serological (complement fixation test, ELISA) detection of chlamydiae. Chlamydial replication and associated symptoms and lesions were observed from 2 to 13 DPI and were particularly pronounced within the first week PI. Clinical symptoms consisted of moderate-to-severe diarrhea, slight and transient anorexia, weakness and body weight loss. Immunohistochemistry and ELISA revealed that chlamydial replication was particularly marked at 2–4 DPI and primarily located in the small intestinal villus enterocytes. Further sites of replication included large intestinal enterocytes, the lamina propria and Tunica submucosa, and the mesenteric lymphnodes. Histopathological hanges included moderate-to-severe villus atrophy with flattened enterocytes and focal
villus tip erosions, and moderate mucosal inflammatory cell infiltrates and lymphangitis in the small intestine. PCR of spleen tissue and blood was mostly negative for chlamydiae, indicating that they did not substantially disseminate into the host up to 13 DPI. All sera were negative for anti-chlamydial antibodies. In conclusion, C. suis strain S45 elicited
significant enteric disease and lesions in gnotobiotic piglets indicating its pathogenic potential for swine.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03781135

Suffering in diseased pigs as expressed by behavioural, clinical and clinical–chemical traits, in a well defined parasite model

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Based on a well-defined model disease (Sarcocystis miescheriana), we have studied behavioural patterns (lying inactive [LYWA], activity during lying [ADLY], feeding [FEED], drinking [DRNK], rooting [ROOT], walking [WALK] and social interactions [SOCB]) of pigs during stages of health (day 0, before infection), acute disease (day 14 post-infection [p.i.]), recovery (day 28 p.i.), and chronic disease (day 42 p.i.). It was found that Deviation from the populations ‘‘standard’’ activity (before infection) could be predicted with clinical–chemical parameters (e.g. alkaline phosphatase). However, further investigations on other disease models are needed to validate suitability of clinical–
chemical traits in assessing suffering and welfare in diseased pigs in the future.

For more information the full article can be found at http://journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/applan/issues

A Tool for On-Farm Welfare Assessment of Pigs in New Zealand

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The New Zealand Pork Industry has the Code of Welfare 2005 (Pigs) as its primary welfare legislation. It is based on 20 minimum standards and has recommendations for the care of pigs. The minimum standards are primarily facilities based.

The objective of this project was to quantify nonhuman animal-based welfare outcomes by observing pigs, pig behavior, and good husbandry. The first stage was to identify welfare indicators to assess and quantify the on-farm welfare
status of pigs. Second, a system (welfare assessment tool) had to be developed to interpret these indicators and link them through to the 20 minimum standards contained in the Code of Welfare 2005 (Pigs). In addition, the tool developed had to be a valid measure of pig health and welfare, accurate in providing a true reflection of the current welfare status, reliable and repeatable, robust and practical, clear and adaptable to allow use by a range of inspectors and production systems.

The welfare indicators were developed in consultation with parties of interest including pork producers; pork industry representatives; and technical staff, pig veterinarians, National Welfare Advisory Committee, and the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty. The tool developed had a series of primary animalbased indicators, including vocalization/noise, appearance (skin and body condition), behavior, mobility, and feces linked to minimum standards. Supplementary
sheets were developed to expand and quantify the primary indicators listed. The animal-based indicators were scored by the assessors via a traffic light system of green, amber, and red. If an amber or red score was recorded, follow-up
action to identify the cause was undertaken to determine if there was a breach of minimum standard as per the Code of Welfare 2005 (Pigs).

Interactive effects of dietary fat source and slaughter weight in growing-finishing swine: III. Carcass and fatty acid compositions

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Crossbred pigs were used to test the interactive effects of dietary fat source and slaughter weight on dissected carcass composition and fatty acid composition of composite carcass samples. It was found that the fat source did not alter pork primal cut yields, nor were the percentages of carcass muscle, fat and bone affected by dietary fat source. However, percentages of the whole shoulder and ham decreased linearly and the percentages of loin and belly increased. Therefore, it was concluded that dietary fat source did not affect carcass composition; however, including 5% soybean oil in swine diets increased the polyunsaturation of pork, which could lead to economic ramifications associated with soft pork and pork fat.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

Transport Benchmark Study

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Powerpoint presented at the 2009 Livestock Transportation Conference.

Genetic parameters for performance traits in commercial sows estimated before and after an outbreak of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome

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Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), caused by the PRRS virus (PRRSV), is globally the most economically important disease in commercial pigs, and novel control strategies are sought. This paper explores the potential to use host genetics to decrease the impact of PRRS on reproductive sows. The conclusions of this research is that there are within-breed genetic variation for commercially relevant traits that could be expoited in future breeding programs against PRRSV infection. Selection for PRRS resistance would be desirable to the industry because effective control measures remain elusive.

For more information the full article can be found at http://jas.fass.org/

Clostridium perfringens beta-toxin targets endothelial cells in necrotizing enteritis in piglets

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To investigate localization of CPB in naturally occurring necrotizing enteritis, we evaluated 52 piglets with spontaneously acquired C. perfringens type C enteritis and 14 control animals by immunohistochemistry. It was concluded that the pathogenesis of C. perfringens type C induced necrotizing enteritis involves binding of CPB to endothelial cells in the small intestine during the early phase of the disease.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03781135

β-defensins gene expression in tissues of the crossbred and Tibetan pigs

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Chinese Tibetan pigs are a special Chinese indigenous pig breed, which are distributed in high-altitude areas of Qinghai-Tibet Plateau with cold climate. They are raised on pasture all year round (Cheng, 1984). Their immunity and disease resistance are very strong; however the mechanism is not yet studied until now. It was hypothesized that these characteristics may be related to the higher expression of β-defensin genes. It was determined that gene expression for BD-1, 2 and 3 of Tibetan pigs and crossbred pigs and found characteristic expression patterns for three β-defensins, and compared three β-defensins gene expression in tissues between the two breeds. It was found that pBD-1 and 3 had higher expression level in Tibetan pigs than those in crossbred pigs. But pBD-2 had lower expression level in Tibetan pigs than that in crossbred pigs. This could reflect a potential for upregulation of pBD-2 upon bacterial infection. The higher expression of pBD-1 and 3 might be a direct mechanism by which the Tibetan pigs have higher immunity and disease resistance than crossbred pigs. Therefore, pBD-2 may contribute to Tibetan pig’s immunity and disease resistance by other mechanism, which needs further research.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/livsci

Influence of differing carbohydrate sources on L-tryptophan metabolism by porcine fecal microbiota studied in vitro

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It was the aim of this study to evaluate the effects of different types of carbohydrates on the metabolism of L-tryptophan to skatole and possible microbial mechanism involved using an in vitro system with pig fecal bacteria. The substrates investigated were selected according to their fermentability: sugar beet pulp (SBP) belonged to the potentially easily fermentative carbohydrates, while rye grass hay (RYE) and alfalfa hay (ALF) were chosen as fermentable fibre as grass fibre and legume family respectively. Besides, fructooligosaccharides (FOS) was used as positive contrast because of its known lowering effect on skatole production in vitro. It was found that Skatole production could be changed by the shifted microbial composition, which was closely related to different sources of carbohydrate. The SBP could be used as pig feed ingredient to inhibit microbial production of skatole. The results from this study provide a useful implication that bacteria C. disporicum DSM 5521 might play a role in the production of skatole.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.journals.elsevierhealth.com/periodicals/livsci