Effects of xylanase supplementation on the apparent digestibility and digestible content of energy, amino acids, phosphorus, and calcium in wheat and wheat by-products from dry milling fed to grower pigs

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Wheat by-products are feedstuffs that
vary in nutritional value, partly because of arabinoxylans
that limit nutrient digestibility. Millrun is a byproduct
from dry milling wheat into flour and contains
varying amounts of the bran, middlings, screening, and
shorts fractions. The digestible nutrient content of millrun
is not well known. Effects of xylanase supplementation
(0 or 4,000 units/kg of diet) on energy, AA, P,
and Ca digestibilities were studied in a wheat control
diet and 5 diets containing 30% of a by-product (millrun,
middlings, shorts, screening, or bran) in a 2 × 6
factorial arrangement of treatments. The wheat control
diet was formulated to contain 3.34 Mcal of DE/kg and
3.0 g of standardized ileal digestible Lys/Mcal of DE.
Diets contained 0.4% chromic oxide. Each of 12 ilealcannulated
pigs (32.5 ± 2.5 kg) was fed 6 or 7 of 12
diets at 3 times the DE requirement for maintenance in
successive 10-d periods for 6 or 7 observations per diet.
Feces and ileal digesta were each collected for 2 d. Xylanase
tended to increase (P < 0.10) ileal energy digestibility by 2.2 percentage units and the DE content by 0.10 Mcal/kg of DM and increased (P < 0.05) ileal DM digestibility by 2.8 percentage units; a diet × xylanase interaction was not observed. Xylanase increased (P < 0.05) total tract energy and DM digestibilities and the DE content. A diet × xylanase interaction was observed; xylanase increased (P < 0.05) total tract energy digestibility of the millrun diet from 72.1 to 78.9%, DE content from 3.19 to 3.51 Mcal/kg of DM, and DM digestibility from 71.5 to 78.6%. Diet affected (P < 0.05) and xylanase improved (P < 0.05) digestibility and digestible contents of some AA in diets and by-products, including Lys, Thr, and Val. Xylanase increased (P < 0.05) Lys digestibility by 13.8, 5.0, 5.2, 6.0, and 14.1 percentage units in millrun, middlings, shorts, screening, and bran, respectively. Diet affected (P < 0.01) total tract P and Ca digestibilities. Xylanase increased (P < 0.05) digestible P and Ca contents. In summary, nutrient digestibility varies among wheat by-products. Millrun contained 2.65 Mcal of DE/kg of DM, which xylanase increased to 3.56 Mcal of DE/kg of DM. Xylanase improved nutrient digestibility and DE content in wheat by-products; and the extent of improvement depended on the by-product. Xylanase supplementation may maximize opportunities to include wheat byproducts in swine diets and ameliorate reductions in nutrient digestibility that may be associated with arabinoxylans.

Simulated financial losses of classical swine fever epidemics in the Finnish pig production sector

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Studies suggest that geographically concentrated and contact-intensive farming systems are more susceptible to large-scale disease epidemics than systems lacking these features (cf. Mangen et al., 2002; Stegeman et al., 2002; Mintiens et al., 2003; Raulo and Lyytikäinen, 2005). Classical swine fever (CSF) is a disease, which can have devastating impact on agriculture. It is listed by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE, 2006) as a disease which can spread rapidly, exhibit significant morbidity or mortality in pigs and be an issue due to international spread through live pigs and pig meat. In the event of a CSF outbreak in Finland, the measures set by European Union (EU) legislation are applied. CSF has not been reported in Finland since 1917. However, the introduction of an easily spreading animal disease into a country has several economic consequences. The goal of this paper was to study how large financial losses a CSF epidemic could cause to the pig sector, including Finnish pig producers, the meat processing industry and the government. Epidemiological data used in this study were based on epidemiological simulation data (Raulo and Lyytikäinen, 2005). Indirect economic losses were simulated by use of a sector model presented by Niemi et al. (2006). Direct loss due to disease eradication and losses to meat processing were calculated, and losses to farms were minimised. The novel aspect of the model is that it took into account how producers can minimize economic losses by adjusting production decisions according to the decrease in export demand and the size of disease outbreak after they have become observable. Pig production was able to adjust over time by controlling the number of piglets used to produce gilts. The model also took into account how severely the epidemic affected the number of pigs kept on farms and how the number of sows was forecast to affect the profitability of pig production. Altogether six ‘what if’-scenarios were examined: Two alternative epidemics of different sizes (medium- or large-sized) combined with three alternative export scenarios (10%, 50% or 100% decrease in export demand for pig meat). The hypothesis to be examined was that there would be major differences in economic losses between the scenarios for export reactions and for medium- and large-sized CSF epidemics in Finland. Options to utilise the model in the economic analysis of disease policy and the implications of production structures are discussed. Epidemiological evidence suggests that under the current spatially diversified structure of Finnish pig farming and related industries, the probability of a severe disease epidemic counting dozens of infected farms is small. Even for epidemics considered large in Finland (5–33 infected farms) combined with a major reduction in export demand, the median loss was simulated to be only 19.2 million. The majority of these losses were due to loss of exports corresponding almost 20% of pig meat production in Finland. While the current structure of pig farming in Finland incurs higher production costs than the most intensive structures in Europe, it also seems to decrease the probability of ‘catastrophic’ economic losses. The results suggest that the response of export markets and the number of uninfected farms affected by preventive measures are critical to the magnitude of losses, as they can amplify losses even if only few farms become infected.

Technical note: Evaluation of the official identification system for pigs for sale in New South Wales

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This study assesses the presence and readability of body tattoos used to identify individual pigs presented for sale or slaughter. Each location was visited on 3 trading or slaughter days, and tattoo presence and readability of porkers (25 to 60 kg of BW), baconers (60 to 90 kg of BW), backfatters (>90 kg of BW but not for breeding), and breeders were recorded. The results suggest that current compliance and readability of tattoos would compromise traceback to the farm of origin in the event of an emergency animal disease outbreak. Education activities on legislation requirements and tattoo procedure would likely increase compliance and performance of the system.

Plasma leptin levels in pigs with different leptin and leptin receptor genotypes

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Quantitative polymerase chain reaction for Porcine circovirus-2 in swine feces in a Porcine circovirus disease-affected commercial herd and a nonaffected commercial herd

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Within-litter variation of birth weight in hyperprolific Czech Large White sows and its relation to litter size traits, stillborn piglets and losses until weaning

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Using a large data set with nearly 40,000 weighed
piglets, the aim of the present study is to investigate the
question to what extend measures of the distribution of
the birth weight within litter are heritable. It was found that selection on high litter size was shown to decrease the mean piglet birth weight and to increase the within-litter variability of birth weight. These changes in the birthweight traits cause an increase in the number of stillborn piglets and in the losses from birth to weaning. Therefore, selection on litter size should be accompanied by selection on mortality traits and/or birth-weight traits. On the basis of the estimated heritabilities and genetic correlations, pre-weaning mortality and the minimal birth
weight in the litter are proposed as potential traits for selection against piglet mortality.

PCVAD vaccination produces ‘remarkable results’

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PCVAD vaccination produces ‘remarkable results’. That’s the conclusion of researchers conducting
field trials into vaccination against a new and more severe form of porcine circovirus. But many questions remain. One question is why some herds broke with the new
severe problem and others didn’t. The general view is that a
new more virulent form of the virus was introduced. Dr Susy
Caman and workers at the Animal Health Laboratory were
able to show, using a molecular technique, that the PCV
found in cases beginning in early 2005 were consistently
different than the viruses found previously. Bob Friendship, a professor with the
university’s Ontario Veterinary College department of population
medicine, says that the researchers continue to try to
unravel this mystery by using a large number of herds and
determining the presence of risk factors. “If we are successful
this information might lead to ways to control the disease
without the cost of vaccine and might increase our understanding
of how diseases interact,” says Friendship.
The long-term goal is to apply this knowledge to make
our pig population healthier and safer, he adds.

Inferential model estimates of ammonia dry deposition in the vicinity of a swine production facility

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This analysis examines deposition as a function of distance from the NH3 source complex, the fraction of emissions deposited locally, and the relative importance of individual exchange processes (i.e., stomatal, cuticular, and soil uptake) and surface types with respect to predicted net deposition rates. The results show that dry deposition rates near the source are high, though the highest deposition rates are rather limited in spatial extent. The results are consistent with European studies which show that the majority of emitted NH3 is transported away from the source and is therefore available for aerosol formation and deposition to downwind ecosystems. The results demonstrate the need for a more mechanistic treatment that takes into account flux bi-directionality. However, such an effort
clearly requires additional measurements of canopy- scale net fluxes, as well as soil and vegetation chemistry, within the primary land-use types.

An estimate of the methionine requirement and its variability in growing pigs using the indicator amino acid oxidation technique

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The objective of this study
was to determine the mean Met requirement in individual
gilts and to estimate the related variability. It was concluded that to maximize profitability,
Met levels in starter pig diets should be determined,
depending on the cost of crystalline Met and the fraction
of the population whose requirement is to be met.

Genetic components of heat stress in finishing pigs: Development of a heat load function

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This study tested the effects of heat stress during the life of a pig, specifically its final weight. It was found that the threshold varied from 16-20 degree Celcius and the second period was varied from 8 to 16 weeks. Changes in BW of finisher pigs was due to heat stress and can be magnified by heat load during the last 10 weeks of life.