Field evaluation of piglet vaccination with a Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae bacterin as compared to a ready-to-use product including porcine circovirus 2 and M. hyopneumoniae in a conventional French farrow-to-finish farm

Didier Duivon,Martial Rigaut,Rika Jolie,Anne Hémonic,Isabelle Corrégé,David Roudaut

doi:10.1186/s40813-017-0077-y

Didier Duivon, Martial Rigaut + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1186/s40813-017-0077-y

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Abstract

BackgroundA controlled randomized trial was performed on a well-managed conventional French 180-sow farm. The trial compared the growth performances of piglets vaccinated at weaning (single shot) either with a commercial monovalent Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae bacterin vaccine or with a commercial bivalent vaccine (Porcilis® PCV M Hyo) against M. hyopneumoniae and porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2). The farm’s porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome status was stable, and most diseases (enzootic pneumonia, atrophic rhinitis, post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome) were controlled by routine vaccination.ResultsDuring the post-weaning phase, the growth performances of the piglets vaccinated with the bivalent vaccine were not significantly different from those vaccinated with the monovalent vaccine. However, during the fattening phase the group vaccinated with the bivalent vaccine had a significantly improved ADG (+34 g/d, p = 0. 047), resulting in a 5-day earlier shipment to slaughter. The group also had a shorter and lower PCV2 load in serum during the fattening period, and an improved lung lesions score. In both groups, three pigs died during the peak PCV2 viraemia (16–23 weeks of age). Immunohistochemistry of the lymph nodes showed that in the group vaccinated with the bivalent vaccine, none of these pigs had PCV2-like lesions, while 2 out of the 3 from the other group did. Results suggest that the added PCV2 valence in the vaccination protocol helps countering the negative impact of subclinical PCV2 infection on growth. The calculated return on investment of the added PCV2 vaccine valence was €1.7 extra revenue per slaughtered pig (€ 39 additional revenue per sow and per year), despite the fact that the cost of the bivalent vaccine was higher than the monovalent M. hyopneumoniae vaccine.ConclusionIn this healthy conventional sow farm, the combined M. hyopneumoniae and PCV2 vaccination was efficacious, convenient to administer and profitable.

Highlights

A controlled randomized trial was performed on a well-managed conventional French 180-sow farm
Since the availability of commercial porcine circovirus 2 (PCV2) vaccines, veterinary practitioners have observed an improvement of growth performances, even in herds with no overt clinical signs of PCV2-associated diseases
The significant difference in average daily weight gain (ADG) over fattening in the group vaccinated against both PCV2 and M. hyopneumoniae, as compared to the group vaccinated against M. hyopneumoniae alone is consistent with results of a recently published Spanish study on the efficacy of piglet PCV2 vaccination in farms with and without overt clinical signs of PCV2-associated diseases [4]

Summary

Introduction

A controlled randomized trial was performed on a well-managed conventional French 180-sow farm. Since the availability of commercial PCV2 vaccines, veterinary practitioners have observed an improvement of growth performances, even in herds with no overt clinical signs of PCV2-associated diseases. Such field observations have been reported in Canada [2], the UK [3], Spain [4], Germany [5] and Switzerland [6]. Information on the cost of this condition is scarce, the British report concludes that, at farm level, the economic impact of PCV2 can be mainly attributed to subclinically PCV2-infected pigs [3]

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