Health Status Of Sows Research Articles

Effects of Dietary Monoglyceride and Diglyceride Supplementation on the Performance, Milk Composition, and Immune Status of Sows During Late Gestation and Lactation.

Monoglyceride and diglyceride (MGDG) have antiviral and antibacterial properties and act as emulsifiers to increase dietary lipid digestibility. The primary aim of this trial was to investigate the effects of dietary MGDG supplementation on the reproductive performance and health status of sows during late gestation and lactation. One hundred sows (Landrace × Large White, mean parity of 4.59) were randomly allocated to groups receiving two different diets with 4% soybean lipids or 4% MGDG from day 85 of gestation to day 21 of lactation. Milk samples were collected on the day of farrowing (colostrum) and on day 14 of lactation, and blood samples were collected from the sows on days 0, 14, and 21 of lactation. Compared with control sows, sows fed MGDG showed no significant differences in reproductive performance (P > 0.05), but sow back fat thickness loss decreased during lactation (P < 0.05). There was a significant decrease in TNF-α concentrations in colostrum in the MGDG-supplemented sows compared with that in the soybean lipid-supplemented sows (P < 0.05). Dietary MGDG supplementation decreased sow plasma IL-8 concentrations on day 0 of lactation and IL-18 concentrations on days 14 and 21 of lactation (P < 0.05). Administration of MGDG increased the glucose and total cholesterol concentrations in sow plasma on day 14 and day 21, respectively (P < 0.05). The findings in this study suggest that MGDG supplementation could be effective in reducing back fat loss, decreasing inflammatory factor levels, and controlling total cholesterol (TCHO) concentrations during lactation.

Live yeast supplementation during late gestation and lactation affects reproductive performance, colostrum and milk composition, blood biochemical and immunological parameters of sows.

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary live yeast (LY) supplementation during late gestation and lactation on reproductive performance, colostrum and milk composition, blood biochemical and immunological parameters of sows. A total of 40 multiparous sows were randomly fed either the control (CON) diet or the CON diet supplemented with LY at 1 g/kg from d 90 of gestation to weaning. Results showed that the number of stillborn piglets and low BW piglets were significantly decreased in the LY-supplemented sows compared with sows in the CON group (P < 0.05). Moreover, the concentrations of protein, lactose and solids-not-fat were increased in the colostrum of LY-supplemented sows (P < 0.05). Interestingly, the plasma activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GGT) at d 1 of lactation and alanine aminotransferase (ALT) at weaning day were decreased by feeding LY diet (P < 0.05). Meanwhile, sows fed LY diet had higher plasma concentration of immunoglobulin G compared with sows fed CON diet at d 1 of lactation (P < 0.05). In conclusion, LY supplementation in maternal diets decreased the number of stillborn piglets and low BW piglets, improved colostrum quality and health status of sows.

Establishment of validated models for non-invasive prediction of rectal temperature of sows using infrared thermography and chemometrics.

Rectal temperature is an important physiological indicator used to characterize the reproductive and health status of sows. Infrared thermography, a surface temperature measurement technology, was investigated in this study to explore its feasibility in non-invasive detection of rectal temperature in sows. A total of 124 records of rectal temperature and surface temperature in various body regions of 99 Landrace × Yorkshire crossbred sows were collected. These surface temperatures together with ambient temperature, ambient humidity, and wind speed in pig pens were correlated with the real rectal temperature of sows to establish rectal temperature prediction models by introducing chemometrics algorithms. Two types of models, i.e., full feature models and selected feature models, were established by applying the partial least squares regression (PLSR) method. The optimal model was attained when 7 important features were selected by LARS-Lasso, where correlation coefficients and root mean squared errors of calibration were 0.80 and 0.30°C, respectively. Particularly, the validity and stability of established simplified models were further evaluated by applying the model to an independent prediction set, where correlation coefficients and root mean squared errors for prediction were 0.80 and 0.35°C, respectively. The validation of established models is scarce in previous similar studies. Above all, this study demonstrated that introduction of chemometrics methodologies would lead to more reliable and accurate model for predicting sow rectal temperature, thus the potential for ensuring animal welfare in a broader view if extended to more applications.

Latest information in relation to Postpartum Dysgalactia Syndrome of sows

The «Postpartum Dysgalactia Syndrome» (PPDS), that is referred in literature as «Periparturient Hypogalactia Syndrome» (PHS), causes important economical losses in die global swine industry. The aetiology of syndrome includes endotoxins and generally die negative, as well as some positive gram bacteria (colibacteroides, ß-haemolytic streptococci G and L, staphylococci, Arcanobacterium pyogenes, Proteus, Bacteroides, Clostridium and Haemophilus). Moreover, several aetiological agems of functional hypoagalactia, factors associated widi stress of sows and conditions that contribute in the proliferation of bacteria and consequendy in the potential endotoxemia (e.g. cystitis, metritis, vaginitis, constipation, mastitis), seem to play a significant role. Risk factors that are often suspected for PPDS are the health status of sows (Fat Sow Syndrome-¥SS, extended duration of parturition, post-partum pyrexia, teat malformation and injuries, as well as hypoplasia of mammary glands), the housing and management conditions of the sow around parturition (slippery floors, hygiene, temperaturehumidity of rooms, reduced activity of the sows, watering system), as well as diet composition (concentration of fiber, proteins, vitamin E and selenium). The clinical signs are characterized mainly by disorders of lactation and health status of sows (anorexia, depression, pyrexia, constipation and abnormal postpartum vulval discharge), as well as from decreased litter performance (unsuccessful attempts for suckling, intense discomposure, diarrhoea, poor growth rates, unevenness of litters regarding to body weight of piglets, increase of preweaning mortality).

Optimal replacement policies and economic value of clinical observations in sow herds

Even though several sow replacement models have been published, integrating information about the health status of sows has not yet been handled satisfactorily. This paper presents a framework for integrating a Weak Sow Index (WSI) into an existing sow replacement model. The WSI, which is developed as part of this study, quantifies various clinical signs into one numerical value representing the risk of a sow to be involuntarily culled. The objective of the study is to investigate the effect of observing clinical signs of sows on the optimal replacement policy. A second objective is to estimate the economic value of observing clinical signs of individual sows. Bayesian networks are used to develop the WSI models for lactating and pregnant sows, respectively. The optimization of the replacement policy is done in a multi-level hierarchical Markov decision process. To illustrate the behaviour of the model, the effect of the WSI on the replacement policy, and the economic benefit of observing clinical signs of individual sows are investigated in two fictitious herds with a high and a low risk of involuntary culling of sows. In general, the value of the WSI has a high influence on the optimal replacement policy, allowing for a better economic classification of sows when taking information about the health status into account. It is shown that the economic value of the WSI is higher in a high risk herd compared to a low risk herd. Among the individual clinical signs, “unwillingness to stand” made the lowest contribution to the economic value of the WSI. The highest contribution was made by the clinical sign “vulva bite” in pregnant sows.