Changes in the spleen and liver of pregnant sows and full-term piglets after feeding diets naturally contaminated with deoxynivalenol and zearalenone

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Wheat contaminated naturally with the Fusarium toxins deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZON) was fed to pregnant Landrace sows for 35 days. On day 110, caesarean section was carried out, the offspring were killed immediately after birth, and their livers and spleens examined. It was found that there are no adverse effects on the liver and spleen of full-term piglets when their mothers consumed diets containing up to 9570 and 358 lg DON/ZON per kg diet.

Health of non-ambulatory, non-injured pigs at processing

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Number of services and the reservice intervals in relation to suboptimal reproductive performance in female pigs on commercial farms

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The objectives of this study were to characterize a reservice occurrence and reservice intervals (RI) on commercial farms; and to investigate associations of the number of services, RI, parity, lactation length, and weaning-to-first-mating intervals (WMI) with farrowing rate and pigs born alive (PBA). It was found that reservice decreased farrowing rate in both gilts and sows, but no influence on PBA was found. Increasing farrowing rate in non-returned females and minimizing RI in reserviced females at low parity improved herd productivity.

Learning how to control porcine circovirus

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Dr. John Harding, associate professor
in swine production medicine at the
University of Saskatchewan, and his team
have been studying various aspects of porcine
circovirus (PCVD) to learn more about
controlling the virus.
In an on-going trial funded by Ontario Pork,
Manitoba Pork, Alberta Pork, Federation des Producteurs de
Porc du Quebec (FPPQ) and the Alberta Livestock Industry
Development Fund, the researchers have been evaluating
on-farm risk factors to determine why some animals develop
disease and others do not.
The main aim of the study is to determine if common
production practices have an impact on disease development
and if there is a genetic component that makes the
pigs more or less susceptible to developing clinical signs of
the disease. The team is in the midst of collecting samples to
be analysed through the summer of 2008.

A regional evaluation of the effect of fiber type in gestation diets on sow reproductive performance

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Data was collected at 3 research stations to determine the effects of added psyllium or soybean hulls to gestation diets on reproductive performance of sows and preweaning performance of their pigs. It was found that sows fed soybean hulls during gestation had reduce BW compared with sows fed the control diets. Also, sows fed psyllium had an increased BW.

Survival analysis of preweaning piglet survival in a dry-cured ham-producing crossbred line

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This study investigated piglet preweaning survival and its relationship with a total merit index (TMI) used for selection of Large White terminal boars for dry-cured ham production. Relationships between sire rankings obtained from different survival models were high. The heritability estimate in equivalent scale was low. The expoitable genetic variation for this trait justifies the inclusion of piglet preweaning survival in the current breeding program.

Differential expression in lung and bronchial lymph node of pigs with high and low responses to infection with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus

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One hundred Hampshire X Duroc crossbred
pigs and 100 Nebraska Index line pigs were infected
with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus
(PRRSV) and evaluated for resistance and susceptibility.
Controls (100/line) were uninfected littermates
to infected pigs. Viremia (V), BW change (WTĢ), and
rectal temperature at 0, 4, 7, and 14 d postinfection
were recorded. Lung, bronchial lymph node (BLN), and
blood tissue were collected at necropsy (14 d postinfection).
Infected pigs were classified as low or high responders
to PRRSV based on the first principal component
from principal component analyses of all variables.
Low responders to PRRSV (low PRRSV burden) and
their uninfected littermates were assigned to the low
(L) class. High responders to PRRSV (high PRRSV
burden) and their uninfected littermates were assigned
to the high (H) class. Infected pigs in the L class had
large WTĢ, low V, and few lung lesions; H-class pigs
had small WTĢ, high V, and many lung lesions. Ribonucleic
acid was extracted from lung and BLN tissue of
the 7 highest and 7 lowest responders per line and from
each of their control littermates. A control reference
design was used, and cDNA from each reference sample
tissue was prepared from pooled RNA extracted from
2 control pigs from each line whose infected littermates
had a principal component value of 0. Design variables
in data analyses were line (Index vs. Hampshire X Duroc),
class (H vs. L), treatment (infected vs. uninfected
controls), and slide/pig as error. Oligo differential expression
was based on P < 0.01 occurring in both lung and BLN. Line and treatment effects were significant for 38 and 541 oligos, respectively, in both lung and BLN. Line ~ class interaction existed for expression of thymosin ƒÀ-4, DEAD box RNA helicase 3, acetylcholinesterase, and Homo sapiens X (inactive)-specific transcript in both tissues. Treatment ~ class existed for expression of CCAAT/enhancer-binding ƒÂ protein, nuclear factor of ƒÈ light polypeptide gene enhancer in B cells inhibitor ƒ¿, thioredoxin-interacting protein, major facilitator superfamily domain containing 1, and unknown sequences SS00012040 and SS00012343. Line ~ treatment and line ~ treatment ~ class interactions were not significant. Possible important genetic associations for fine-mapping candidate genes related to response to PRRSV and determining causative alleles were revealed.

Impact of Gestation Housing System on Weaned Pig Production Cost

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Construction and operating costs for two gestation housing systems were compared to assess their impact on cost
per weaned pig produced. The systems compared were: 1) individual gestation stalls in a mechanically ventilated confinement building with slatted floor and 2) group pens with individual feed stalls in deep‐bedded naturally ventilated hoop barns. It was found that in the upper Midwest United States, group housing of gestation sows in deep‐bedded hoop barns may produce pigs at a lower cost than individual gestation stalls in confinement facilities if the bedded group housing system is managed optimally.

Effects of dietary arginine supplementation during gestation and lactation on the performance of lactating primiparous sows and nursing piglets

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This study aimed at determining the effects of dietary arginine supplementation during gestation and lactation on the lactation performance of first-partiy sows. On a weekly basis, BW and backfat (BF) thickness of sows, as well as piglet BW were measured, and blood and milk samples were obtained from the sows. Number of days from weaning to estrus and ADFI were also recorded. It was found that there were no differences in BW, BF thickness, ADFI, or days until return to estrus among treatment groups. Also, there was no effect of the gestation diet or a gestation × lactation diet interaction on any parameter measured. Weight gain of piglets from sows fed the Arg-supplemented diet during lactation was greater between d 0 and 7 and between d 0 and 21 of lactation compared with piglets
from sows fed the control diet. Collectively, results from this study indicate the potential beneficial effects of
dietary Arg supplementation in improving the lactation performance of first-parity sows.

Characterization of the porcine Kisspeptins receptor gene and evaluation as candidate for timing of puberty in sows

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Kisspeptins receptor (KISS1R), also called GPR54, is a key regulator of
puberty in many species. KISS1R and its genetics in pigs remain unexplored.
The objective of this study was to characterize the porcine
KISS1R gene and evaluate the association of KISS1R mutations with age
at puberty in sows. It was found that no significant association of KISS1R haplotypes
and haplotype pairs with age at puberty was observed in the resource
population, indicating that mutations in KISS1R are not responsible for
divergent age at puberty in White Duroc and Erhualian pigs.