Protein turnover in non-pregnant sows at inadequate and more than adequate feed intake

Posted in: Production by admin on January 1, 2009 | No Comments

Protein turnover is a balance between protein synthesis and breakdown and is
affected by both energy and protein intake. Energy and protein metabolism
was studied in non-pregnant sows at two feed intakes to determine the effect
of energy intake on use of dietary amino acids for protein deposition. It was found that sows fed adequate energy and protein reduced body protein
breakdown and incorporated dietary amino acids more efficiently into body
protein. Sows fed the lower energy intake had increased body protein
breakdown and amino acids were oxidized for energy, demonstrating the
significant impact that dietary energy intake has on amino acid requirements
of sows.

The effect of PG600 at weaning on sow performance

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Maintaining a consistent flow of good quality weaned pigs should be the
principal goal of a commercial swine operation, and to achieve this, producers
must consistently meet weekly breeding targets. PG600 (400 IU eCG and
200 IU hCG; Intervet, USA, De Soto, KS) has been proven to induce a
synchronized estrus in weaned sows. The primary objective of this study was
to determine effects of PG600 treatment at weaning on the percentage of
sows bred and subsequent litter sizes.
Primiparous crossbred (PIC C22 and C29) sows from a 5,000 sow commercial
farrow-to-wean facility were initially allocated to experiment by farrow weight
and genetics to 1 of 2 treatments: 1) PG: PG600 (n = 189) administered
intramuscularly in the sow’s neck on the morning of weaning or 2) CON (n =
218): no treatment at weaning. Sows were bred according to herd protocol,
depending on the day estrous was first detected. It was found that although the performance of PG and CON were similar in the
current study, the advantage PG600 at weaning was realized in a tighter and
more synchronous breeding “week” of 2-3 days, which in turn, focuses heat
stimulation, heat detection and breeding into a narrower time window resulting
in a decrease in the spread of time at farrowing of the subsequent litter and
thus age at weaning.

Effect of storage time on swine manure solid separation efficiency by screening

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This study has the goal to study the manure solid–liquid separation efficiency by screening, under different screen opening sizes and pit disposal time. In addition, the objective includes to establish and recommend an optimum period of storage, under tropical climate conditions that may maintain both manure without significant physical–chemical changes and high solid–liquid separation efficiency. It was found that to avoid the extensive degradation of swine manure and excessive solubilization of mineral and organic species under tropical climate, the solid–liquid separation process must be performed as soon as possible. Preferably, this separation should be performed in a time period shorter than eight days. As soon as this process is performed, with the efficiency of solid removal, it will decrease the ammonification and the overload of a subsequent advanced biological treatment. The storage time under the studied conditions showed an increase in the soluble COD that can cause problems in the efficiency of solid–liquid separation
and difficulties for screening.

For more information the full article can be found at http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09608524

Amino acid digestibility and concentration of digestible and metabolizable energy in soybean meal produced from conventional, high-protein, or low-oligosaccharide varieties of soybeans and fed to growing pigs

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The objective of the present work was to test the hypothesis that soybean meal (SBM) produced from high-protein or low-oligosaccharide soybeans have different digestibilities of amino acids (AA) and energy than SBM produced from conventional soybeans. This study found that soybean meal produced from high-protein varieties of soybeans has a similar digestibility of AA as SBM produced from conventional soybeans, which results in greater concentrations of digestible AA in SBM produced from high-protein soybeans than in SBM produced from conventional SBM. This is true for extracted SBM as well as for extruded-expelled SBM.

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

Critical Alert: The Swine Flu Pandemic Fact or Fiction?

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A pandemic does not necessarily mean what you think it does, it is NOT black-plague carts being hauled through the streets piled high with dead bodies. Nor does it mean flesh eating zombies wandering the streets feeding on the living. All a pandemic means is that a new infectious disease is spreading throughout the world. I suspect you have likely been alarmed by the media’s coverage of the swine flu scare. It has a noticeable subplot – preparing you for draconian measures to combat a future pandemic as well as forcing you to accept the idea of mandatory vaccinations. Regular swine flu is a contagious respiratory disease, caused by a type-A influenza virus that affects pigs. The current strain, A(HINI), is a new variation of an HINI virus, which causes seasonal flu outbreaks in humans, that also contains genetic material of bird and pig versions of the flu. Interestingly enough, this version has never before been
seen in neither human nor animal, which I will discuss a bit later. This does sound bad. But not so fast. There are a few reasons to not rush to conclusions that this is the deadly pandemic we’ve been told would occur in the near future
(as if anyone could predict it without having some sort of inside knowledge). As of May 16, 2009, 34 countries have officially reported 8,451 eases of influenza A(HINI) infection and only 65 deaths in the ENTIRE world from this illness. At this time 70 of the deaths are from people born in Mexico. Why Mexico? Well overcrowding, poor nutrition and overall poor immunity, all of which are indigenous to Mexico will radically increase your risk of death from
almost any infection. It is important to note that nearly all suspected new cases have been reported as mild. Preliminary scientific evidence is also pointing out that this virus is NOT as potent as initially thought. Personally, I am highly skeptical. It simply doesn’t add up to a real pandemic. But it does raise serious questions about where this brand new, never before seen virus came from, especially since it cannot be contracted from eating pork products, and has never before been seen in pigs, and contains traits from the bird flu – and which, so far, only
seems to respond to Tamiflu. Please realize that Tamiflu is NOT a safe drug. Serious side effects include convulsions, delirium or delusions, and 14 deaths in children and teens as a result of neuropsychiatrie problems and brain infections. Japan actually banned Tamiflu for children in 2007. When Tamiflu is used as directed (twice daily for 5
days) it can ONLY reduce the duration of your influenza symptoms by 1 to 1 Vi days, according to the official data.
Why on earth would anyone want to take a drug that has a chance of killing you, was banned in Japan, is loaded with side effects that mimic the flu itself, costs over $100, and AT BEST can only provide 36 hours of SYMPTOM relief Just doesn’t make any sense. Please recognize that there is serious revenue in Tamiflu. The Financial Times reports that governments around the world have previously stockpiled 220 million doses in preparation for a pandemic that has yet to appear. The cost of this preparation is $7 billion dollars. But let me tell you, getting vaccinated now would not
only offer no protection and potentially cause great harm, it would most likely be loaded with toxic mercury which is used as a preservative in most flu vaccines.

Effects of low-phytic acid corn, low-phytic acid soybean meal, and phytase on nutrient digestibility and excretion in growing pigs

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This study evaluated the effects of feeding low phytic acid (LPA) corn, LPA soybean meal, normal corn (NC), normal soybean meal (NSBM), and phytase on nutrient digestibility and excretion. It is concluded that feeding any combination of LPA corn, LPA soybean meal, and the phytase additive would improve phosphorus digestibility and would dramatically decrease phosphorus excretion thereby reducing the potential impact of phosphorus from pig manure on the environment.

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

Commercial Transportation of Equines to Slaughter in the U.S.

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Powerpoint presentation. Presented at the Livestock Transport Conference 2009.

Early deposition of n-3 fatty acids from tuna oil in lean and adipose tissue of fattening pigs is mainly permanent

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The objective of this study was to test for different tuna oil feeding regimens, focusing mainly on the efficiency to enrich lean and adipose tissue with n-3 fatty acids and the expression of the adverse side-effects on performance, carcass, and pork quality. It was concluded that tuna oil feeding resulted in a lighter, less red and less yellow backfat and was found to increase the proportion of n-3 fatty acids to total fatty acids in treatments. The results show that, particularly under the condition of a continuous supply, much of the n-3 fatty acids ingested in early fattening can be recovered in pork.

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

Torque teno virus infection in the pig and its potential role as a model of human infection

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Torque teno viruses (TTVs), of the genus Anellovirus, are single-stranded circular DNA viruses that infect many vertebrate species. Although viruses of this type have quite a stable genome, they exhibit low nucleotide homology. Torque teno virus infection has not been consistently linked to specific diseases, although there is epidemiological evidence of an association with disease in humans. The recent recognition of naturally occurring TTV infection in swine and its epidemiological resemblance to human TTV raises the possibility of using the pig as a model to study human TTV infection. Such an approach will require the development of novel investigative tools to study the epidemiology, transmission, immune responses and potential pathogenesis of TTV infection. The present review summarises
research on animal TTV infection, focussing in particular on TTV infection in the pig, and considers how a porcine experimental infection model might assist in the study of human TTV infection.

For more information the full article can be found at  http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/10900233

Acanthopanax senticosus extract as a dietary additive enhances the apparent ileal digestibility of amino acids in weaned piglets

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Our previous study indicated that Acanthopanax senticosus (AS) extract modified the cellular and humoral immune responses of weaned piglets by modulating the production of immunocytes, cytokines and antibodies (Kong et al., 2007a). Based on these results, we hypothesized that dietary supplementation with AS extract enhanced the digestibility of AA inweaned piglets. In the present study, this hypothesiswas tested by determining the serum contents and apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of AA in weaned piglets on days 7, 14 and 28 after the initiation of treatment. It was found that AS extract is a promising alternative to antimicrobial agents, and could effectively enhance the digestibility and absorption of amino acids in weaned piglets.

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