Prevalence of Cryptosporidium genotypes in pre and post-weaned pigs in Australia

A total of 289 pig faecal samples were collected from pre-weaned and post-weaned piglets and sows from 1 indoor and 3 outdoor piggeries located in the south-west region of Western Australia and screened at the 18S rRNA locus for the presence of Cryptosporidium. An overall prevalence of 22.1% (64/289) was identified. Cryptosporidium was more prevalent in post-weaned animals (p < 0.05); 32.7% (51/156) versus 10.6% (13/123) for pre-weaned animals. Sequence analysis identified Cryptosporidium suis in all pre-weaned isolates genotyped (7/13). In post-weaned pigs that were genotyped (n = 38), the non-zoonotic Cryptosporidium species, pig genotype II was identified in 32 samples and C. suis in 6 samples. The zoonotic species Cryptosporidium parvum was not detected, suggesting that domestic pigs do not pose a significant public health risk. Pig genotype II was significantly (p < 0.05) associated with ‘normal’ stools, indicating an asymptomatic nature in the porcine host.     

Prüfung einer quantitativen Futterrestriktion ab 3. Lebenswoche bei der Aufzucht von Junghennen der Mastrichtung im Käfig

The concentrations of Fe, Zn, Cu and Mn were determined in meat, inner organs, blood and residual carcass in a total of 24 barrows and gilts of 60 kg and 100 kg of live weight, respectively. The finisher diet contained 192 ppm Fe, 113 ppm Zn, 18 ppm Cu and 65 ppm Mn with, as calculated, a great proportion originating from the mineral supplement. During growth, the contents of Fe, Cu and Mn were significantly reduced. No sex differences occurred. In the lean meat of the 100 kg pigs, common values accounting for 1.1 mg Fe, 2.8 mg Zn and 0.05 mg Cu per 100 g were analyzed. The manganese concentration of 0.01 mg per 100 g, however, was considerably lower as the corresponding figure from nutrient tables. In the finishing period, the animals retained per animal and day about 18 mg Fe, 15 mg Zn and 0.2 mg Cu. Mn retention was not significantly different from zero. The low utilization rates calculated from these data can be partly explained by the moderately excessive supply in this fattening period. In order to reduce the trace element load of the soils, a considerably lower tolerance of excessive trace element contents in finisher diets has to be developed.     

Untersuchungen Zum Energieumsatz Wachsender Schweine Im Lebendmasseabschnitt Von 10–50 Kg

Abstract

Untersuchungen zum Energieerhaltungsbedarf wachsender Schweine führten zu folgenden Ergebnissen: Für die Abhängigkeit des Energieerhaltungsbedarfs (EEB) von der Lebendmasse (LM) wurde nach der Beziehung EEB – aLM^b aus 13 Versuchen ein Exponent der Lebendmasse von 0,647 ± 0,054 ermittelt (0,57 bis 0,73).

Die Erhöhung des Proteingehaltes im Futter von ～ 17 auf ～ 45% in 6 Versuchen erniedrigte den Energieerhaltungsbedarf um 14, 4, 6, 2, 6 bzw. 12%. Das Entwicklungsstadium hatte auf die Differenz keinen Einfluß.

Die Größe des Energieerhaltungsbedarfs variierte sehr weit zwischen den Versuchen. Ausschließlich bei Versuchen mit Börgen wurden als kleinster Wert 634 und als größter Wert 931 kJ umsetzbare Energie je kg LM^0,62.d ermittelt.

Im Mittel von 19 Vergleichen lag der durch Regressionsanalysen aus Wachstums- und Erhaltungs-perioden erhaltene Energieerhaltungsbedarf signifikant (α = 0,05) um 4% höher als der auf dem Erhaltungsniveau direkt gemessene Erhaltungsbedarf.

Die mittleren Variationskoeffizienten für den Energieerhaltungsbedarf lagen innerhalb der Versuche, innerhalb der Paralleltiere bzw. innerhalb der Individuen bei ±10%, ±9% bzw. ±8%.

INVESTIGATIONS INTO THE ENERGY METABOLISM OF GROWING PIGS IN A LIVE WEIGHT RANGE OF 10–50 KG

3. Energy maintenance requirement of growing pigs

Investigations into the energy maintenance requirement yielded the following results: For the energy maintenance requirement (EMR) in dependence on live weight (LW) using the relation EMR - aLW^b from 13 experiments, an exponent of the live weight of 0.647±0.054 (0.57 to 0.73) was found out.

Increasing the protein content in the feed from ～17 to ～45% in 6 experiments lowered the energy maintenance requirements about 14, 4, 6, 2, 6 and 12% respectively. The animals' development had no influence on the difference.

The amount of the energy maintenance requirement varied greatly between the experiments. Exclusively in the experiments with barrows, a lowest value of 634 and a highest value of 931 kJ metabolizable energy per kg LW^0.62.d was measured.

On average of 19 comparisons the energy maintenance requirement derived from growth and maintenance periods by means of regression analysis was significant (α = 0.05), about 4% higher than the energy maintenance requirement measured on maintenance level directly.

The mean variation coefficients for the maintenance requirement within the experiments, within the parallel animals as well as within the individuals, amounted to ±10%, ±9% and ±8% respectively.     

Reactive oxygen species mediated placental oxidative stress,mitochondrial content,and cell cycle progression through mitogen-activated protein kinases in intrauterine growth restricted pigs

Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) remains a significant obstacle in pig production; however, information regarding the relationship between reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced placental dysfunction and IUGR is still unknown. This study aimed to explore the placental redox status, mitochondrial content, cellular progression, and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways in IUGR. Placental tissues were collected from normal intrauterine gestation (NIUG) and IUGR fetuses at delivery. Compared with the NIUG, placental ROS production, lipid peroxidation, and DNA damage were increased in IUGR. Placental mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) content and mtDNA-encoded gene expression decreased in IUGR. Moreover, p21 phosphorylation increased, cyclin E expression decreased in IUGR cases, which showed senescence characteristics. Analysis of signaling pathways showed that the ERK1/2 phosphorylation increased whereas the p38 and JNK phosphorylation decreased in IUGR. In cultured porcine trophectoderm (pTr) cells, exogenous H₂O₂ increased intracellular ROS production, decreased cell viability in a dose-dependent manner. Cell cycle distribution was found to arrest in S and G2/M phases. Our findings suggested that IUGR was associated with greater placental ROS and oxidative injury, which might be a factor that resulted in lower mitochondrial content, microvilli loss and senescence, and activation of MAPK pathways.     

Ascaris suum: aldolase I purification and immunologic study

Fructose-1,6-diphosphate d-glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate lyase (aldolase) (EC 4.1.2.13) from the body wall of Ascaris suum was purified 80-fold by a combination of salt precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography. A group of pigs was immunized with the purified aldolase preparation and was subsequently challenged with infective Ascaris larvae. The immunized animals showed clinical and histopathologic symptoms of acute sensitization reaction. Thrice as many larvae were found in the nonimmunized control pigs as compared to the immunized animals.     

Effects of ileal endogenous nitrogen losses and dietary amino acid supplementation on nitrogen retention in growing pigs

The relationship between ileal endogenous nitrogen (N) losses and N retention was studied in two experiments with growing pigs of 40 to 60 kg. In Experiment 1, 13 ileal cannulated castrated males were fed diets based on maize starch, containing either soyabean meal (SBM) with a low trypsin inhibitor activity (TIA), a mixture of toasted and untoasted soyabean meal with a high TIA (mSBM), a commercial batch of peas, or rapeseed expeller cake (RC). Ileal endogenous N recovery was measured using the ¹⁵N-isotope dilution technique. Apparent ileal digestibility of crude protein (CP) for the SBM, mSBM, pea and RC diets were 82.8, 72.0, 76.7 and 68.7% (P < 0.05). True ileal CP digestibility for the diets was 96.5, 93.0, 94.0 and 87.5% (P < 0.05), and the recovery of ileal endogenous N was 3.08, 6.01, 4.55 and 5.36 g/kg DMI (P < 0.05). In Experiment 2, sixteen castrated males were used to determine N retention, using almost similar diets as in Experiment 1. The diets contained either SBM, mSBM or peas and were balanced for the contents of apparent ileal digestible (ID) CP (96 g/kg) and ID essential amino acids (EAA; at least 85% of requirement values). The fourth treatment was a diet with mSBM as protein source, but supplemented with EAA to the level of 95% of the requirement values (diet mSBMs). Apparent faecal CP digestibility for the SBM, mSBM, pea and mSBMs diets was 88.6, 87.2, 86.1 and 86.0% (P < 0.05). Urinary N excretion and N retention for these treatments were 0.39, 0.59, 0.40, 0.53 (P < 0.05) and 0.87, 0.80, 0.85, 0.84 g/kg^0.75/day (P < 0.05), respectively. Utilization of dietary ID N for N retention were 79.8, 73.3, 78.2 and 77.6% (P < 0.05), respectively. The study showed that increased ileal endogenous N losses are associated with higher losses of urinary N and with a lower N retention. Supplementation of extra essential AA to a diet causing a relatively high flow of ileal endogenous N, may compensate for the lower N utilization under these conditions, and thus limit effects on N retention.     

A comparison of the Schumacher with other functions for describing growth in pigs

This study was undertaken to introduce the Schumacher equation and compare it with established functions for describing growth in pigs. The relationship between live weight (LW) and cumulative feed intake was also investigated. A database was constructed from three independent trials in which LW, age and intake were measured from birth to 937 days. Three growth functions were used for analysis of growth versus age: Gompertz, Schumacher and Weibull; and the Richards and monomolecular equations were used for analysis of cumulative feed intake versus LW. The growth functions have different points of inflexion. Liveweight at inflexion is W_f/e for the Gompertz, where W_f is the final weight, W_f/e² for the Schumacher, and W_f − (W_f − W₀) exp[−(n − 1)/n] for the Weibull, where W₀ is initial body weight and n is a shape parameter. Meta-analysis of the data using mixed model and nonlinear regression procedures was conducted to identify the most appropriate growth function. Functions were compared using F-tests or Bayesian Information Criteria, which give a value based on best fit and number of parameters in the model. The three equations were fitted to five individual pig growth profiles and to the composite data. Although the Weibull had a lower residual mean square, it did not significantly improve the fit compared to the simpler models and appears to be over-parameterised. The results suggest that model selection should be based on the type and amount of data available for analysis. Residuals plot showed that Schumacher and Weibull better predict the initial growth phase, however, all models showed largest magnitude of residuals towards the end of the growth profile. The monomolecular equation was most appropriate for describing LW against cumulative feed intake and may be used to formulate diets based on the efficiency of conversion of feed to LW at various stages of the animal's life span.     

Impact of wheat grinding and pelleting in a wheat–rapeseed meal diet on amino acid ileal digestibility and endogenous losses in pigs

The purpose of the current experiment was to investigate the impacts of grinding and pelleting procedures applied to wheat in a wheat–rapeseed meal diet on the coefficients of standardized ileal digestibility, i.e., apparent digestibility corrected for basal endogenous losses (CSID), and true ileal digestibility, i.e., apparent digestibility corrected for total endogenous losses (CTID), of nitrogen (N) and amino acids (AA) in pigs. Ileal digestibility was measured by collecting digesta from pigs fitted with ileorectal anastomoses. Four diets, involving four technological treatments applied to wheat, were compared in vivo according to a 4 × 4 Latin square design (four pigs each fed four diets during four successive periods of 1 week). The technological treatments of wheat were two grinding procedures and two pelleting processes. Wheat was ground to obtain mean flour particle sizes of 1000 and 500 μm, leading after mixing with rapeseed meal and minerals-vitamins premix to the first and second diets named “coarse” and “fine”, respectively. Part of the 500 μm wheat flour was pelleted through dies of same screen diameter (4 mm) but different thicknesses, 16 and 20 mm, inducing a low and high compression ratio, leading after mixing with rapeseed meal and premix to the third and fourth diets named “LCR” and “HCR”, respectively. Basal endogenous losses were determined by feeding a protein-free diet during the 5th week of the experiment. Total endogenous losses were measured by way of the isotopic dilution method using ¹⁵N-labeled wheat and rapeseed meal. Decreasing wheat particle size from 1000 to 500 μm improved (P<0.05) the coefficient of ileal digestibility of dietary energy (0.707 versus 0.665), organic matter (0.718 versus 0.677) and dry matter (0.681 versus 0.645), but neither AA CSID nor N retention. The pelleting processes did not further increase (P>0.10) energy or organic matter digestibility but improved (P<0.05) N and AA CSID (0.785 versus 0.759 for N and 0.725 versus 0.679 for lysine, with HCR versus fine diet, respectively). Pelleting wheat flour at higher compression ratio (HCR versus LCR diet) was more efficient to improve dietary N and AA digestibility values due to a significant decrease in ileal specific, i.e., total minus basal, N and AA endogenous losses (P<0.05) associated with an increase in CTID. It is concluded that pelleting wheat fine flour at high compression ratio allows maximizing AA digestibility and availability of a wheat–rapeseed meal diet.     

fMRI mapping of cortical centers following visual stimulation in postnatal pigs of different ages

Classical studies have demonstrated that the visual centers in primates consist of cortical areas V1, V2 and V4 and their branches. However, nothing is known about how these visual areas change in postnatal development. In the present studies, therefore, pigs aged 2, 4, and 6 months old, were stimulated visually with a colored checker board and the active sites in the cortex, cerebellum and brainstem recorded using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In pigs aged 2 months old, visual stimulation induced an increase in activation of sites in the V2 and V4 cortical areas, as well as in the areas of the inferior aspect of the parietal and middle aspect of the temporal cortices, but not in the medial and caudal occipital cortex (V1 area). At 4 months old, the V1 area was also activated, and by 6 months old, an inferior sector in the prefrontal cortex was also activated. As the pigs aged, functional active sites were further demonstrated in the cerebellum and the brainstem, which probably had to do with action memory, and the control of the ocular muscles, respectively. It is concluded that the visual pathway of the pig mainly involves cortical areas that mature at 6 months of age.