Fiber effects in nutrition and gut health in pigs

Dietary fiber is associated with impaired nutrient utilization and reduced net energy values. However, fiber has to be included in the diet to maintain normal physiological functions in the digestive tract. Moreover, the negative impact of dietary fiber will be determined by the fiber properties and may differ considerably between fiber sources. Various techniques can be applied to enhance nutritional value and utilization of available feed resources. In addition, the extent of fiber utilization is affected by the age of the pig and the pig breed. The use of potential prebiotic effects of dietary fiber is an attractive way to stimulate gut health and thereby minimize the use of anti-microbial growth promoters. Inclusion of soluble non-starch polysaccharides （NSP） in the diet can stimulate the growth of commensal gut microbes, inclusion of NSP from chicory results in changes in gut micro-environment and gut morphology of pigs, while growth performance remains unaffected and digestibility was only marginally reduced. The fermentation products and pH in digesta responded to diet type and were correlated with shifts in the microbiota. Interestingly, fiber intake will have an impact on the expression of intestinal epithelial heat-shock proteins in the pig. Heat-shock proteins have an important physiological role in the gut and carry out crucial housekeeping functions in order to maintain the mucosal barrier integrity. Thus, there are increasing evidence showing that fiber can have prebiotic effects in pigs due to interactions with the gut micro-environment and the gut associated immune system.     

Practical starter pig amino acid requirements in relation to immunity,gut health and growth performance

Immune system activation begins a host of physiological responses. Infectious agents are recognized by monocytes and macrophages which in turn stimulate cytokine production. It is the hormone-like factors called cytokines that orchestrate the immune response. The classic responses observed with immune system activation and cytokine production include： anorexia, fever, lethargy, recruitment of other immune cells, and phagocytosis. While production of immune system components is known to require some amino acids, increases in amino acid requirements are more than offset by the associated decrease in protein accretion and increased muscle protein degradation that also accompanies immune system activation. However, the biggest impact of cytokine production is a decrease in feed intake. Therefore, as feed intake decreases, the energy needed to drive protein synthesis is also decreased. This suggests that diets should still be formulated on a similar calorie：lysine ratio as those formulated for non-immune challenged pigs. The evidence is sparse or equivocal for increasing nutrient requirements during an immune challenge. Nutritionists and swine producers should resist the pressure to alter the diet, limit feed, or add expensive feed additives during an immune challenge. While immune stimulation does not necessitate changes in diet formulation, when pigs are challenged with non-pathogenic diarrhea there are potential advantages on gut health with the increased use of crystalline amino acids rather than intact protein sources （i.e., soybean meal）. This is because reducing crude protein decreases the quantity of fermentable protein entering the large intestine, which lowers post weaning diarrhea. It also lowers the requirement for expensive specialty protein sources or other protein sources such as soybean meal that present immunological challenges to the gut. The objective of this review is two-fold. The first is to discuss immunity by nutrition interactions, or lack thereof, and secondly, to review amino acid re     

Escherichia coli challenge and one type of smectite alter intestinal barrier of pigs

An experiment was conducted to determine how an E. coil challenge and dietary clays affect the intestinal barrier of pigs. Two groups of 32 pigs （initial BW： 6.9 ± 1.0 kg） were distributed in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement of a randomized complete block design （2 challenge treatments： sham or E. coil, and 4 dietary treatments： control, 0.3% smectite A, 0.3% smectite B and 0.3% zeolite）, with 8 replicates total. Diarrhea score, growth performance, goblet cell size and number, bacterial translocation from intestinal lumen to lymph nodes, intestinal morphology, and relative amounts of sulfo and sialo mucins were measured. The E. coli challenge reduced performance, increased goblet cell size and number in the ileum, increased bacterial translocation from the intestinal lumen to the lymph nodes, and increased ileal crypt depth. One of the clays （smectite A） tended to increase goblet cell size in ileum, which may indicate enhanced protection. In conclusion, E. coli infection degrades intestinal barrier integrity but smectite A may enhance it.     

Practical starter pig amino acid requirements in relation to immunity,gut health and growth performance

Immune system activation begins a host of physiological responses. Infectious agents are recognized by monocytes and macrophages which in turn stimulate cytokine production. It is the hormone-like factors called cytokines that orchestrate the immune response. The classic responses observed with immune system activation and cytokine production include: anorexia, fever, lethargy, recruitment of other immune cells, and phagocytosis. While production of immune system components is known to require some amino acids, increases in amino acid requirements are more than offset by the associated decrease in protein accretion and increased muscle protein degradation that also accompanies immune system activation. However, the biggest impact of cytokine production is a decrease in feed intake. Therefore, as feed intake decreases, the energy needed to drive protein synthesis is also decreased. This suggests that diets should still be formulated on a similar calorie:lysine ratio as those formulated for non-immune challenged pigs. The evidence is sparse or equivocal for increasing nutrient requirements during an immune challenge. Nutritionists and swine producers should resist the pressure to alter the diet, limit feed, or add expensive feed additives during an immune challenge. While immune stimulation does not necessitate changes in diet formulation, when pigs are challenged with non-pathogenic diarrhea there are potential advantages on gut health with the increased use of crystalline amino acids rather than intact protein sources (i.e., soybean meal). This is because reducing crude protein decreases the quantity of fermentable protein entering the large intestine, which lowers post weaning diarrhea. It also lowers the requirement for expensive specialty protein sources or other protein sources such as soybean meal that present immunological challenges to the gut. The objective of this review is two-fold. The first is to discuss immunity by nutrition interactions, or lack thereof, and secondly, to review amino acid requirement estimates for nursery pigs.     

采光保温猪舍养猪效果的评价

在寒冷季节(12—4月份)进行试验,比较采光保温猪舍内外饲养条件下肥育猪的生长情况。结果表明:在采光保温猪舍内养猪具有耗料少、增重快的优点,在132天的试验期内,试验组比舍外环境中饲养的对照组平均多增重3.1kg(P>0.05),少耗料26.82kg,试验组的料肉比显著低于对照组(P<0.01)。并测得采光保温猪舍有较好的采暖和保温性能,舍内的温度(Y)随外环境温度(X)变化而改变的幅度较小,两者符合方程式Y=7.7135+0.2926X(r=0.8412;n=5;P<0.05),即舍内温度平均比舍外环境中高7.7℃。     

不同复合酶制剂对肥育猪生长性能的影响

试验选用72头100日龄,体重在44kg左右的三元杂交(杜×长×大)商品代瘦肉型肥育猪,完全随机分为3个组(A、B、C),每个组24头,设三个重复。A组中,饲料中加入国产复合A酶;B组中,饲料中加入国产复合B酶;C组中,饲料中加入罗酶宝TM。经过30天的饲养试验,结果表明:①B、C两组肥育猪的日增重比A组分别提高0.81%、5.50%,C组比B组日增重提高4.65%;②C组肥育猪料重比比A组提高3.53%,C组料重比比B组提高2.59%,B组料重比比A组提高0.96%;③经济效益,C组比A、B两组分别提高8.59%、5.99%;④试验全期,三个处理组的腹泻率均极低。     

Influence of rearing conditions and respiratory disease on haptoglobin levels in the pig at slaughter

Associations between serum concentrations of haptoglobin, pathological lung lesions indicative of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (EP) or Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (PL) infection at slaughter and previous rearing environment were investigated in 510 pigs (90-100 kg live weight) from 17 farms in England. Haptoglobin concentrations were significantly higher in pigs showing pathological signs of EP infection compared to those without signs of this disease (EP positive median 0.43 mg ml(-1) vs. EP negative median 0.26 mg ml(-1), p<0.01). However, there were no significant associations between serum haptoglobin concentrations and pathological signs of PL. The presence of solid partitions compared with barred or similar open partitions was associated with a decrease of 0.44 mg ml(-1) farm mean haptoglobin concentration, whilst an increase in pen size of 10 m(2) was associated with a decrease of 0.08 mg ml(-1) farm mean haptoglobin concentration. The findings indicate that pathological signs of EP were associated with increased serum haptoglobin at slaughter, which in turn was influenced by components of the farm environment.     

Comparison of two automated spectrophotometric methods for ceruloplasmin measurement in pigs

Ceruloplasmin (Cp) determination could provide an objective measure of the health status of an animal and could be used as marker of animal health and welfare (Skinner, 2001) (Skinner, J. G., 2001. Special report. International standardization of acute phase proteins. Veterinary Clinical Pathology 30, 2-7.) but only manual methods have been reported to determine Cp concentrations in pigs (McCosker, 1961; Toussaint et al., 1995; Eckersall et al., 1996) (McCosker, P. J., 1961. Paraphenylenediamine oxidase activity and copper-levels in mammalian plasmas. Nature. 190, 887-889; Toussaint, M. J. M., Van Ederen, A. M., Gruys, E., 1995. Implication of clinical pathology in assessment of animal health and in animal production and meat inspection. Comparative Haematology International 5, 149-157; Eckersall, P. D., Saini, P. K., McComb, C., 1996. The acute phase response of acid soluble glycoprotein, alpha(1)-acid glycoprotein, ceruloplasmin, haptoglobin and C-reactive protein, in the pig. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 51, 377-385). In the present study two automated methods based on the use of two different substrates for the determination of serum ceruloplasmin in pigs were developed, evaluated and compared. Both methods showed a good precision and detection limits, with no signs of inaccuracy and could be applied to biochemical autoanalyzers usually found in clinical laboratories using only minimal amounts of serum. Additionally the behaviour of Cp in experimental and clinical situations was studied showing an increase of around two fold after turpentine administration and significantly higher values in cases of pigs with inflammatory conditions when compared with healthy pigs.     

山西瘦肉型猪(SD-Ⅲ系)基因组DNA的AFLP和RAPD检测研究

用AFLP和RAPD两种分子标记对山西瘦肉型猪(SD Ⅲ系)进行纯度检测,旨在为评价该猪种的遗传稳定性提供相关参数,并对这两种方法应用于遗传距离、相似系数的估测进行了比较。AFLP实验用8条引物,对SD Ⅲ系14头猪进行了基因组DNA分析,共获得101个AFLP标记,单引物获得的标记数在3～15之间,群体相似系数为0 928(0 892～0 978);遗传距离为0 072(0 108～0 022)。RAPD实验用14条随机引物,共获得124个RAPD标记,单引物获得的标记数在4～11之间,群体相似系数为0 944(0 901～0 987);遗传距离为0 056(0 099～0 013)。结果表明:1AFLP和RAPD适宜于基因组DNA检测,但AFLP优于RAPD,2SD Ⅲ系猪纯度较高。     

南昌白猪选育研究报告

南昌白猪是用含有滨湖黑猪血统的混血杂种母猪与大约克杂交，经五个世代选育而成的母本新品种。五世代头胎产仔１０．２８头，６０日龄窝重１５７．２７ｋｇ，经产母猪产仔１２．３６头，６０日龄窝重１７２．４５ｋｇ；后备公猪６月龄体重９５．８８ｋｇ，日增重６３０．９４ｇ，三点均膘２．２８ｃｍ，料重比２．９９∶１；后备母猪６月龄体重８５．６３ｋｇ，日增重５６０．２７ｇ，三点均膘２．４５ｃｍ；同胞（半同胞）肥育测定，日增重６５１ｇ，料重比３．１２∶１，屠宰测定瘦肉率５８．８９％。肉色鲜红，系水力强，无ＰＳＥ和ＤＦＤ肉，贮藏损失少，熟肉力高，肌纤维密度和肌纤维直径优于大约克、长白、杜洛克，肌内脂肪达３．２１％，超过大约克、长白和杜洛克，继承了滨湖黑猪肉质优良的特点。与杜洛克公猪杂交，日增重６９７ｇ，料重比３．０２∶１，优势率分别为１０．６３％和－６．２％，胴体瘦肉率６２．４１％，接近双亲均值，窝产瘦肉量４８４．３ｋｇ。已育成４个品种和１个支系，经ＤＮＡ指纹图谱分析，证实南昌白猪４个品系遗传纯度达到定型品种的水平。