Effects of Acclimate™ on the frequency and duration of aggressive sequence and growth performance in co-mingled, weaned pigs

Co-mingling weaned pigs often results in aggressive behavior which can result in injury and reduced performance. This experiment examined the effect of Acclimate™, a product reported to reduce equine aggression, on weaned pig aggression and growth performance. Weanling pigs (n=214, avg. wt.=5.93 kg) were blocked by weight, sex and litter (n=25) and randomly assigned to either Acclimate™ treatment or a control group. Acclimate™ treated pigs were marked on the nose, face and neck. Pigs were individually identified and videotaped to determine frequency of aggressive sequence (FAS) and duration of aggression (DOA) on an individual pig basis. Pig weights and feed consumption were used to determine feed intake, total weight gain (TWG), average daily gain (ADG) and feed to gain ratio (F/G). Differences between litter, sex and treatment for FAS, DOA, F/G and ADG were tested using GLM, SAS. Neither Acclimate™ treatment or sex had a significant effect on FAS, TWG or F/G. However, there was a trend towards reduced duration and intensity of aggression in Acclimate™ treated pigs (p=0.1). There was a significant effect of litter (p<0.01) and TWG (p<0.001) on FAS at both 1 and 3 weeks. Acclimate™ treatment of weaned pigs does not decrease FAS, but may decrease the intensity and duration of aggression without negatively effecting growth.     

3周龄断奶仔猪胰酶发育规律的研究

以 3周龄断奶仔猪为试验材料 ,研究了断奶对仔猪胰酶活性的影响。试验表明 ,3周龄断奶可以显著降低仔猪胰脏中胰淀粉酶、胰蛋白酶、胰糜蛋白酶和胰脂肪酶的活性 ,且在断奶后 2周继续维持断奶时水平。断奶降低了小肠内容物中胰淀粉酶和胰脂肪酶的活性 ,但空肠和回肠胰蛋白酶、胰糜蛋白酶的活性在断奶后并未下降。     

生态果园模式中"猪-沼-炕"单元研究与设计

根据中部地区生态果园运行需要,本文提出并设计了生态果园系统中的"猪-沼-炕"单元,详细介绍了该单元的工作原理、设计方法及运行效果,解决了以沼气为纽带的生态果园模式冬季运行效率低等问题.同时,对孟州示范基地的运行测试结果表明该单元模式在提高猪舍温度、促进猪的生长、增加沼气产率等方面均较普通的太阳能猪舍有较大幅度提高,成为适合中部地区应用的生态果园模式中较有特色的接口技术.     

不同断奶日龄仔猪消化道酸度和胃蛋白酶活性的动态变化

将12窝同日龄新生仔猪随机分成4组，每组3窝，每窝为一个重复组，分别采取17、21、28和35日龄断奶，在断奶后12h、1周、2周和3周从每个重复组中随机抽取1头屠宰，共测定了54头仔猪胃、十二指肠、空肠和回肠食糜pH值及胃食糜中胃蛋白酶的活性。结果发现断奶后12h胃食糜pH值均高于同龄哺乳仔猪，并且达该组整个试验期间的最高，随后逐渐降低。4组仔猪在断奶后胃pH值回复到3.5所需的时间分别为3、2、1和1周，这表明断奶日龄越早，胃中pH值回复到3.5所需要的时间越长。 除十二指肠外，空肠和回肠食糜pH值基本上不受日龄和断奶的影响。哺乳仔猪从18－36日龄胃蛋白酶相对活性（U/ml胃液）和比活（U/mg蛋白质）增加10倍以上。不同断奶日龄仔猪各组在断奶后12h胃蛋白酶的相对活性和比活均聚然升高，达到该日龄铒猪阶段正常值的2倍左右，特别是小日龄断奶仔猪为明显，随后在3周内逐渐降低，至50日龄时稳定在一个较低水平。     

Dietary fibre and indigestible protein increase ileal glycoprotein output without impacting colonic crypt goblet cells in weaned piglets

Mucus plays an important role in gut health by favouring colonisation resistance. The aim of this study was to quantify the impact of fibre and protein on mucin recovery in ileal digesta and on goblet cell histochemistry in the proximal colon. A control diet with highly digestible protein and low fibre and three complex diets containing indigestible protein associated with low, soluble or insoluble fibre sources were tested for 14 days in piglets weaned at 28 days of age. Mucin concentration was determined by ethanol precipitation. Goblet cell subtypes in colonic crypts were analysed by histochemistry. The ileal mucin output was higher with the complex diets than with the control diet (31.6 on average vs 21.7 g/kg DM intake). Increases observed with the low and soluble fibre diets were similar (34 g/kg DM intake). This suggests a limited effect of soluble fibre in presence of indigestible protein. Surprisingly, the observed increase was lower with insoluble fibre (27.2 g/kg DM intake). DM and N output and digestibility were not affected by the diets, but a linear relationship was found between DM and mucin output. In proximal colon, crypt depth, goblet cell numbers per crypt and glycosylation subtypes were not affected by the diet suggesting no change in the capacity of mucus to protect the gut. To conclude, introducing highly indigestible protein in the diet increased ileal mucin output, without effects of these factors on crypt goblet cell patterns in the proximal colon. Introducing fibre in a diet containing highly indigestible protein had a marginal effect.     

The effect of PHA-lectins and diet composition on performance and intestinal development in weaning piglets

Anti-nutritional factors such as PHA-lectins (phytohaemagglutinin) in piglet diets can compromise piglet's performance and health by gut damage, which is especially important at weaning. Two trials were conducted to investigate the effect of PHA and fermentable carbohydrates on performance, gut morphology, physiology and microbiology in piglets weaned at 26 days.

We studied dietary PHA as a model to standardize gut damage and its effect on intestinal morphology and microbiology in piglets until 2 weeks post weaning. In general, significant lower values were observed on day 7 compared to day 14 post weaning (d7 vs. d14: 358 vs. 442 μm villus height; 42.1 vs. 108.7 U/g protein sucrase-isomaltase), indicating gut maturation. We observed very few changes between day of weaning to day 7 post weaning, lactobacilli counts being most affected (8.9, 6.9, 7.4 cfu/g for d0, d7, d14). Apart from these marked time effects the effect of PHA was negligible and thus a less suitable model to standardize gut damage in this setup.

Furthermore we studied the effect of PHA in combination with rapid or slow fermentable carbohydrates (CHO) on performance and physiological parameters. We observed a dramatic effect on performance (ADG g/d: 245 no PHA + low CHO, 111 PHA + low CHO, 132 PHA + rapid CHO, 105 PHA + slow CHO), which was less clearly reflected in the physiological parameters.     

Intermittent suckling improves post-weaning feed uptake but does not change functional gut characteristics of piglets

Suckling pigs were separated from their dam for 24 h on day 21 (1 × 24 h fasting, n = 10) or day 21 and 24 (2 × 24 h fasting, n = 10). Pigs in the control group (n = 10) were not fasted before weaning. All pigs were weaned on day 28 postpartum. Feed intake during the first 4 days post-weaning was higher (P < 0.05) for pigs exposed to 1 × 24 h fasting compared with controls. Water consumption was not affected by fasting prior to weaning. The difference in post-weaning feed uptake was not reflected in any clinical traits, intestinal morphology, or activity of digestive enzymes (maltase, dipeptidylpeptidase IV, aminopeptidases A and N; P > 0.15). In conclusion, a short period of fasting prior to weaning can increase post-weaning feed uptake, although this had no clinical impact under the present experimental conditions.     

Effect of dietary non-starch polysaccharide solubility and inclusion level on gut health and the risk of post weaning enteric disorders in newly weaned piglets

The objective of this experiment was to investigate the effect of non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) solubility and inclusion rate on gut health and development, performance and risk of post weaning enteric disorders (PWED) using NSP sources known not to affect digesta viscosity. The experiment consisted of a 2 × 3 factorial combination of NSP type (sNSP vs insoluble NSP (iNSP); inulin vs purified cellulose) and inclusion level (50 vs 100 vs 150 g/kg). Piglets were weaned at 28 days (day 0) and fed ad libitum until slaughter on day 14. There were no incidences of PWED. NSP solubility had little effect on performance, but sNSP diets resulted in lower caecal and colonic pH and higher colonic Lactobacilli to coliform ratio compared to iNSP diets. Increasing NSP levels significantly reduced caecal and colonic pH but decreased empty body weight percentage (P = 0.067). These results suggest that gut health may benefit most from diets containing appropriate sources of predominantly sNSP rather than iNSP. The optimal level of such sNSP will likely depend upon the level of risk of PWED in order to balance the trade off between maximising performance and improving gut health. Effects of NSP feeding under a higher infectious pressure remains to be assessed.     

Pre-weaning eating activity and morphological parameters in the small and large intestine of piglets

The effect of pre-weaning eating activity on the intestinal morphology in piglets was investigated on the day of weaning and 5 days post-weaning. The eating activity of each piglet was recorded by means of direct observations. On day 5 post-weaning the villous heights were reduced and the crypt depths were increased irrespective of the pre-weaning eating activity. In the caecum and colon the crypt depth was increased post-weaning and no effect of pre-weaning eating activity was observed. The muscle thickness in the small intestine did not change during the immediate post-weaning period whereas the muscle thickness in the large intestine was doubled in the same period. In conclusion, pre-weaning eating activity did not affect the structural alterations of the small and large intestine. However, the actual number of piglets consuming creep feed prior to weaning was low and the eating activity was highly variable. Therefore, more or later weaned piglets may be needed to show effects of pre-weaning eating activity.