Data on the effects of the anionic protein meal BioChlorⓇ on sows before and after farrowing

Three hundred and two parity 3 and 4 sows were allocated to one of three treatment groups: A (n=106): Control group fed the standard lactation diet; B (n=94): Lactation diet supplemented with 10 kg BioChlor/T; C (n=102): Lactation diet supplemented with 20 kg BioChlor/T. The sows were randomly allocated to treatment on entry to the farrowing shed at 100 d of gestation. The numbers allocated to each treatment were not equal with fewer sows allocated to treatment B at the start of treatment feeding than originally intended. Six allocated sows were not pregnant at their due farrowing date and two control group sows died after treatment feeding commenced prior to farrowing. All sows were individually housed in sow stalls and were fed 3 kg of their treatment diet once a day from d 105 of gestation. At d 110 of gestation, sows were moved into farrowing crates and continued to be fed 3 kg of their treatment diet once a day until the day of farrowing followed by ad libitum feeding of the treatment diet during a 27-d lactation. Approximately 50 litters from each treatment were randomly weighed to determine treatment effects on piglet average daily gain from birth to weaning. Litters were standardized within treatment to 10 piglets per litter at d 3 of lactation by allocating piglets from sows within treatment that had more than 12 piglets. After weaning, all sows were transported to a commercial module and mated on the first display of estrus. Sows were offered a common boar shed diet (13.8 MJ DE/kg; 170 g protein/kg; 9 g lysine/kg) ad libitum from weaning to mating. Following mating, all animals were fed 2.5 kg of a gestation diet (13.0 MJ DE/kg; 125 g protein/kg; 6 g lysine/kg) until farrowing. All sows were stalled individually during the gestation period following treatment feeding. Measures included: date of birth, number of piglets stillborn, number of piglets born alive, total number of piglets born, number of mummified feti, litter weight and number of piglets weighed at birth, litter weight and number of piglets at d 3, 14, and 26, number of piglets stillborn (gestation 2), number of piglets born alive (gestation 2), and total number of piglets born (gestation 2). The number of piglets born alive, number of total piglets born, and all weight measures were analyzed with mixed models with treatment as a fixed effect and sow within farrowing house as a random effect. A negative binomial model was used to estimate the incidence of still birth with sow within farrowing house as a random effect. For the odds of being re-mated a logistic regression mixed model was used to evaluate differences among treatment groups. These data provide information on an individual animal basis that can be used to inform pig producers, nutritionists, veterinarians, and researchers for further investigation on the use of anionic feeds in gestation diets of pigs and is suitable for future meta-analyses.

Relationship between dexamethasone treatment around parturition of primiparous sows and farrowing performance and newborn piglet traits

This study evaluated the relationship between the steroidal anti-inflammatory action of dexamethasone treatment in primiparous sows and farrowing and piglet performance in the first 5 d of life. For this purpose, 234 gilts were selected on the day of farrowing and distributed among three treatments: CON - control, without dexamethasone treatment; DexaPF - treatment with dexamethasone (20 mg im) per female at the moment of copious colostrum secretion (pre-farrowing); and DexaFO - treatment with dexamethasone (20 mg im), per female when the first piglet was born (farrowing onset). All females and their litters were evaluated regarding farrowing duration, obstetric interventions, colostrum yield and intake, newborn piglet traits, and piglet performance until 5 d of age. A subsample of 79 females (∼26 per treatment) had their blood glucose concentration evaluated hourly shortly after the first piglet was born until the end of farrowing. Additionally, blood samples from 11 litters per treatment were collected for immunocrit evaluation. As a result, faster farrowing was observed in the DexaPF treatment (188.14 min; P = 0.002) compared with CON (229.99 min) and DexaFO (221.79 min). Additionally, lower obstetric intervention rates were observed in sows treated with dexamethasone (DexaPF = 7.69%; DexaFO = 5.13%) compared with CON (19.23%; P = 0.02). The sow's blood glucose concentration during farrowing was higher in DexaPF (90.55 mg/dL) than in CON (73.15 mg/dL) and DexaFO (80.06 mg/dL) treatments (P < 0.01). Besides the effect on farrowing duration, no differences among treatments were observed regarding piglets born alive and stillbirths, newborn piglet vitality, colostrum consumption, immunocrit, and colostrum yield (P ≥ 0.17). Regarding piglet traits, higher percentages of piglets born without meconium staining and lower percentages of piglets with meconium scores 2 and 3 were observed in the groups treated with dexamethasone (DexaPF and DexaFO; P < 0.01) compared with CON. However, piglet weight gain and survival rate until 5 d of age were not affected by the treatment (P ≥ 0.61). In summary, dexamethasone treatment before farrowing onset, in primiparous sows, had the potential to reduce the farrowing duration and the necessity of obstetric intervention, but it did not affect the main productive parameters such as the occurrence of stillbirths, piglet weight gain, and survival rates until 5 d of age.

Digestive efficiency traits in growing pigs are genetically correlated with sow litter traits in the Large White breed

Digestive efficiency traits are promising selection criteria to improve feed efficiency in pigs. However, the genetic relationships between digestive efficiency and sow reproductive traits are mostly unknown and need to be estimated. In this study, reproductive traits were available for 61 601 litters recorded on 21 719 Large White purebred sows. The traits were comprised of the number of born alive (NBA) and the number of weaned piglets (NWP), the number of stillbirths (NSB) and piglet mortality during suckling (PM). For a subset of 32518 litters, the mean (MBW) and CV of piglet birth weights (CVBW) were deduced from individual piglet weights as well as the proportion of piglets weighing less than 1 kg (PPL1K). Growth and feed efficiency traits were available for 4 643 Large White male pigs related to sows with reproductive performances. They comprised average daily gain (ADG), daily feed intake (DFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). A subset of 1 391 pigs had predictions for digestibility coefficients (DC) of energy, organic matter and nitrogen obtained by analysing faecal samples with near-infrared spectrometry. Estimated heritabilities were low for NBA, NSB, NWP and PM (0.08 ± 0.01 to 0.11 ± 0.01) and low to moderate for litter weight characteristics (0.14 ± 0.02 to 0.38 ± 0.01). Heritability estimates were moderate to high for ADG, DFI and FCR (0.37 ± 0.04 to 0.54 ± 0.05) and moderate for DC traits (0.26 ± 0.06 to 0.38 ± 0.07). Genetic correlations were low between ADG, or alternatively FCR, and reproductive traits. They were significantly different from zero with MBW (0.19 ± 0.06 with ADG and -0.15 ± 0.06 with FCR) and PPL1K (-0.19 ± 0.07 with ADG and 0.18 ± 0.07 with FCR). All genetic correlations between DFI and reproductive traits were low and not significantly different from zero. Genetic correlations between DC traits and NBA were significantly different from zero for DC of organic matter and energy (<-0.25 ± 0.11). DC traits were moderately correlated with MBW (>0.30 ± 0.11), CVBW (<-0.36 ± 0.11) and PPL1K (<-0.37 ± 0.11) at the genetic level. Genetic correlations between DC traits and PM were significantly negative and hence favourable (<-0.38 ± 0.12). Finally, genetic correlations between DC traits and NWP were close to zero. These results suggested that sows closely related to growing pigs with the best digestive efficiency would produce heavier and more homogeneous piglets, with slightly smaller litter sizes at birth but better survival. Hence, there is usable genetic variation in DC that could be exploited to define new selection strategies in maternal lines aiming at improving not only feed efficiency but also piglet survival.

Variations in porcine colostrum oligosaccharide composition between breeds and in association with sow maternal performance

Background

Oligosaccharides (OS) are indigestible carbohydrates naturally found in milk. The composition of porcine colostrum OS may influence the growth and the health of the neonate and consuming optimal concentrations of OS may reduce piglet susceptibility to illness. In this manner, targeted supplementation of animal feed with OS is being explored as a health management tool in the livestock industry. The variation in OS composition between different breeds of pig and its association with the litter performance is currently unknown. The aim of this study was to characterize the colostrum OS composition from sows of different breed and parity and correlate this data with sow maternal traits.

Methods

Eighty-three colostrum samples from parities 1 to 8 were gathered from 3 different breeds of sow: 44 Large White sows, 27 Landrace sows and 12 Duroc sows. Samples were taken between the birth of the first and the last piglet from sows that were not pharmacologically induced to farrow. OS were purified from the samples and analysed by MALDI-ToF mass spectrometry (21 OS compositions detected). The farrowing season and the maternal data were recorded for each sow, including the number of live piglets and the litter body weight at birth, at day (d) 3 and at weaning.

Results

Five OS compositions, including isomers of the bifidogenic Sialyllactose, Lacto-N-Tetraose and Lacto-N-Hexaose series, were detected in all the samples. Twelve other OS were identified in at least 50% of samples, and their abundances were affected by breed (P < 0.05; 6 of 12), marginally affected by season (P < 0.10; 3 of 12) and never by parity number. The abundances of each OS component were standardized by Z-score scaling (μ = 0 and SD = 1), transformed by principal component analysis, and four similarity clusters were generated. Cluster membership was associated with litter weight gain within 3 days (P = 0.063) and at weaning (P < 0.05), but not with piglet mortality within 3 days.

Conclusions

OS composition of colostrum may partially explain the variability in maternal performance within and between different breeds of sow. The obtained OS data can provide useful information for the development of novel prebiotic food supplements for suckling and weaning pigs.

Post-mortem findings and piglet mortality in relation to strategic use of straw at farrowing

Piglet survival is the outcome of complex interactions between the sow, the piglet and their environment. In order to facilitate nest-building and to provide a suitable environment for the newborn piglets, a strategic method to supply loose housed sows with large quantities of straw at farrowing has been developed by Swedish piglet-producing farmers. The objectives of this cohort study were to use post-mortem findings to assess the causes of death and to quantify the effect of a large quantity of straw provided before farrowing compared to limited small daily amounts on stillbirths, post-mortem findings in piglets dying within 5 days after birth and the pre-weaning mortality. On each of four commercial piglet-producing farms in South-West Sweden, one batch of sows was studied during two consecutive lactations. At inclusion, sows were randomly assigned to two treatment groups, and sows remaining in the batch during the next lactation switched treatment group. In the STRAW group (n=181 litters) sows were provided with 15-20 kg of chopped straw 2 days prior to the calculated date of farrowing. Sows in the CONTROL group (n=182 litters) received 0.5-1 kg of chopped straw on a daily basis plus about 2 kg for nest-building when the stockperson judged the sow to be about to farrow. After onset of farrowing, additionally 1-2 kg was given. Post-mortem examination was performed in all piglets that died within 5 days after birth (n=798). The three major post-mortem findings were starvation (34%) crushing by the sow (28%), and enteritis (24%). In conclusion, strategic use of large quantities of straw reduced the number of stillborn piglets per litter by 27% (p=0.007). Under the conditions studied, the pre-weaning mortality of liveborn piglets was not affected by treatment; however, the distribution of post-mortem findings differed with fewer piglets dying due to starvation and more due to crushing and enteritis in STRAW litters.