Injection of porcine growth hormone releasing hormone gene plasmid in skeletal muscle increases piglets' growth and whole body protein turnover

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2008 | No Comments

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the growth promotion effect of growth hormone releasing hormone (GHRH) plasmid injected in piglets and measure protein turnover in piglets injected with different amount of GHRH plasmid. It was found that the injection and expression of pGHRH gene plasmid in skeletal muscle of pigs stimulates GHRH and GH
excretion and increases circulating IGF-I concentration in piglets, improves growth performance and feed conversion.
Protein deposition increased after injecting pGHRH gene plasmid in muscle of piglets. This increase was caused by an increase in protein synthesis which exceeded the concomitant increase in protein breakdown. A dosage of 1 mg gave maximum effects of the pGHRH gene plasmid on protein metabolism in piglets. At higher doses, the feedback regulation of SS may limit the responses of protein metabolism to pGHRH gene plasmid.

Essential oils which will help fight foodborne diseases

Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments

This research project began in 2005 with testing of 66
essential oils (including geraniol, eugenol, carvacrol, cinnamon
oil, clove oil and thymol) for their ability to inhibit the
growth of certain types of salmonella and E. coli.
Sixteen out of the 66 were found to have strong antimicrobial
properties. Nine were then further studied to measure
the degree of antibacterial effects and stability at low
pH (the acidity level found in pig stomachs), and to determine
whether they had any negative effect on the growth
of beneficial gut bacteria. The researchers have compared different forms of
essential oils – dry powder and liquid suspension – and have
found dry powder preferable as it is easy to store, handle and
distribute. Using dry powder also makes it easy to control
the dosage and, in addition, it can be applied to a premix,
then added to feed.
This year, the research team will carry out tests on
the antimicrobial activity of their developed essential oil
capsules when they are mixed with feed and exposed to
simulated digestion. The team will also strive to improve the
current encapsulation formula and develop new ones which
will achieve better release in the pig’s digestive system.
Animal tests will be planned if the in vitro study offers
positive results.

Mixing gilts in early pregnancy does not affect embryo survival

Posted in: Production by admin on | No Comments

Reports on the effects of mixing mated gilts to form stable, fixed groups during the pre-implantation period on conception rates and/or embryo survival are scarce. Consequently, the current experiment had two objectives: first, to investigate whether group housing during the first 4 weeks of gestation impairs embryo survival; second, to determine the effects of regrouping, and the timing of regrouping, during the first 10 days of gestation, on embryo survival. This experiment was conducted at the University of Adelaide, Pig and Poultry Production Institute (PPPI) at Roseworthy, South Australia, with approval from the animal ethics committee of The University of Adelaide. The experiment used 96 gilts, and was conducted in two replicates: replicate one ran from September to December 2006 (spring/summer) and replicate two ran from February to May 2007 (summer/autumn). It was found that group housing gilts during the first 26 days of gestation does not adversely affect pregnancy rates or embryo survival. Importantly, based on the current data, it is suggested that mixing gilts to form stable groups during the first 10 days of gestation is not detrimental to reproductive performance. However, the effects of remixing during the implantation period remain to be established, and the impact of mixing gilts under conditions when space is more limited is unknown.

Control of H2S emission from swine manure using Na-nitrite and Na-molybdate

Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments

Emission of gaseous and odorous compounds from livestock operations can be a major impediment to the expansion of these facilities, especially in locations close to the populated areas. O’Neill and Phillips have shown that more than 168 compounds produced either by chemical reactions or by microbial activities are responsible for the odorous emissions from livestock operations. Some of the major odour contributors identified included ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulphide (H2S), volatile fatty acids, p-cresol, indole, skatole, and diacetyl . Hydrogen sulphide is produced as a result of bacterial reduction of sulphate and decomposition of sulphur-containing organic constituents of the manure under anaerobic conditions. Hazardous H2S levels can be generated in swine confinement buildings during the pulling of manure pit plugs, manure agitation and pump out, operation and maintenance of manure handling equipment and drainage lines, and power washing. In a previous study conducted in Saskatchewan, Chénard et al. demonstrated that such activities could cause short-term spikes of H2S to levels above 500 μLLˉ¹ within the building airspace. Considering the odorous, toxic and corrosive nature of H2S, and severe health problems associated with the presence of H2S, a variety of approaches aimed to control the production and emission of H2S in livestock facilities have been investigated. These include application of various pit additives and chemicals, as well as the treatment of emitted air in biofilters. The oil industry is also concerned with the biogenic production of hydrogen sulphide (H2S). Previous studies have shown that H2S in oil reserves can be controlled effectively using nitrite and molybdate salts. Therefore, in this study the effects of the addition of nitrite and molybdate on reducing the emission of H2S from swine manure slurry was investigated in the laboratory and semi-pilot scale systems. Addition of 80mM nitrite or 2mM molybdate (final concentration in the manure slurry) to fresh manure in the laboratory scale closed systems (125mL and 4 L) reduced the concentration of H2S in the headspace gas from 1500 μLLˉ¹ to 10 μLLˉ¹ which maintained during the remaining period of trials (40–60 days). With aged manure, similar results were achieved with a lower level of nitrite (10 mM). Simultaneous or sequential additions of nitrite and molybdate to fresh manure had similar effects. Contrary to the systems simulating biological conditions in oil reservoirs in which simultaneous addition of nitrite and molybdate has been reported to have a synergistic effect, no synergism was observed when nitrite and molybdate were added to the manure simultaneously. Experiments with fresh manure slurry in the semi-pilot scale systems (200 L) confirmed the effectiveness of this approach in which addition of 80mM nitrite or 2mM molybdate or a combination of 80mMnitrite and 2mM molybdate decreased the concentration of the H2S in the headspace gas from an initial value of 500μLLˉ¹ to a low level in the range 2–25μLLˉ¹ and maintained these low levels during the remaining period of trials (16 days). The concentration of ammonia (NH3) in the headspace gas of the treated systems was similar to that observed in the control system (untreated), indicating that the treatment did not have an effect on the level of present NH3. Although the addition of nitrite or molybdate reduced emissions of H2S from swine manure and the associated health and safety concerns, it had little impact on the intensity of odour in the headspace gas samples from the semi-pilot scale system.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/03043894

Methane and Carbon Dioxide Emission from Two Pig Finishing Barns

Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments

This article presents a field study of CH4 and CO2 emission from two 1100-head mechanically ventilated pig (Sus scrofa) finishing barns (B1 and B2) with shallow manure flushing systems and propane space heaters from August 2002 to July 2003 in northern Missouri. It was found that the CH4 and CO2 released from the flushing lagoon effluent were equivalent to 9.8 and 4.1% of the CDFB CH4 and CO2 emissions, respectively.

For more information the full article can be found at https://www.agronomy.org/publications/jeq

The electronic nose – a new tool to help manage farmyard odours

Posted in: Environment by admin on | No Comments

Farm smells are not simply a sum of all odorous compounds
found within them, but result from interactions
among complex mixtures of hundreds of compounds. In addition to the molecules themselves, odour generation is
also influenced by many environmental factors such as temperature,
air flow speed and relative humidity. However, while Yang and his research team consider
their system a useful tool in supporting livestock and poultry
farm odour management, and point out that is easier and
cheaper to operate than using olfactometry or a human
panel, they admit that any electronic nose is limited on the
farm in that it can only detect odour events at one point.
It therefore cannot provide overall odour mapping around
livestock facilities, which is necessary for an overall odour
management strategy. Yang and his research team thus foresee the need for
a wireless electronic nose network, combined with an air
dispersion model on each farm, which would be able to
monitor odour strengths on the basis of odour emission
rates, topography and meteorological data.

Handling Stress During Marketing of Pigs from Large Groups

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

We have previously shown that pigs from large groups are more socially tolerant than pigs from conventional small groups and will fight less when re-grouped, as happens during marketing. This study was conducted to compare the differences in handling attributes, stress responses, and meat quality of pigs between small conventional pens and large group auto sort pens. When handled through the same facilities, pigs from large and small groups required similar levels of force during handling. However, pigs from large groups tended to load more quickly. Pigs from the two treatments had similar physiological responses to handling. When given adequate lairage time to recover from handling and transportation, meat quality was similar between group size treatments. However, pigs from small groups had a higher degree of marbling, higher light reflectance and also a redder colour. The trends, although not statistically significant, would suggest conventional small group pigs respond slightly more to stress than large group pigs.

Evaluating Energy Usage and Various Energy Conservation Strategies for Swine Barns

Posted in: Prairie Swine Centre by admin on | No Comments

Energy usage in swine barns and potential energy conservation measures were evaluated in
this study. A survey of 28 swine facilities showed large variability in energy used per hog
produced between barns. Energy audits conducted in four selected barns identified the various
areas, equipment, and practices in the barn that contributed significantly to the total overall
energy consumption, thereby aiding in prioritizing areas for intervention. Using computer
simulation, various potential strategies that can be applied in a barn in terms of lighting, creep
and space heating, fans, feed motor, and heat recovery were examined. Simulation results for a
typical 600-sow operation showed that potential annual savings up to 47,391 kWh electricity (79
kWh/sow) or 88,404 m3 natural gas (147 m3/sow) can be attained.

Protein, nucleic acid content and activity of m- and m-calpain in the longissimus dorsi muscle as affected by protein and energy restriction during early growth of pigs

Posted in: Meat Quality by admin on | No Comments

It is well known that accelerated/compensatory growth may occur in pigs after a
period of feed restriction. However, very few data are available on the possible consequences of accelerated
growth on muscle protein-turnover in pigs (growth rate of muscle, nucleic acid
contents, proteolytic enzyme activities). The content of DNA and RNA, as well as
their mutual proportions, influences the capacity of muscle for protein synthesis.
Similarly, the activity of proteolytic enzymes (e.g. m- and m-calpain) influences
muscle growth (Goll et al. 1998). The majority of studies on this topic investigated
final effects, mainly at slaughter weight (e.g. Kristensen et al. 2002; Oksbjerg et al.
2002; Therkildsen et al. 2002, 2004). In this study, these effects are examined in
growing pigs from 25–105 kg bodyweight (BW) at several stages of bodyweight. Based on the results it can be concluded that limitation of protein and energy intake during early growth of pigs does not strongly influence
daily muscle gain and protein deposition in the LD muscle. Similarly, re-introducing
adequate feeding did not influence these features. However, protein/energy
restriction decreases DNA concentration in the LD muscle, and during the following
recovery period the DNA concentration tends towards its normal content.
Moreover, higher rate of gain of total content of DNA in the LD muscle of
temporarily restricted pigs do not cause increased protein deposition in the muscle. As far as the activity of m-calpain is concerned, our results do not prove that it could
be increased in recovering pigs.

Molecular characterization, expression and association analysis of the porcine CMYA4 gene with carcass traits

Posted in: Meat Quality by admin on | No Comments

In this study, we obtained the mRNA sequence including the full coding sequence and the partial 5′ untranslated
region of the porcine CMYA4 gene by using the rapid amplification of cDNA ends and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the sequence was deposited in the GenBank nucleotide database. It was found that association of genotypes with growth and carcass traits showed that different genotypes of the CMYA4 gene were significantly associated with the backfat thickness of the area between sixth and seventh ribs (p < 0.05) and backfat thickness at the shoulder (p < 0.05).