Pig Body Research Articles

Investigation on Minimum Ventilation, Heating, and Energy Consumption of Pig Buildings in China during Winter

Ventilation and heating can be necessary for pig production during winter in China. However, it is challenging to balance the ventilation rate and heat loss due to the ventilation. Therefore, it is essential to design the minimum ventilation and heating load properly in order to reduce energy loss. In this paper, a VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) model based on energy balance is established. Meteorological data, pig body masses, outdoor temperatures, feeding densities, and building envelope thermal insulance factors were involved in the model. A model pig house with a length and width of 110 m × 15 m was used to investigate the ventilation, heating time, load, and power consumption in different climate zones, i.e., Changchun, Beijing, Nanning, Wuhan, and Guiyang, representing five major climate regions in China. Based on the simulation results, the models of minimum ventilation and heating load were fitted. The results showed that there is a logarithmic relationship between the minimum ventilation volume and body mass, R2 = 0.9673. The R2 of heating load models for nursery pigs and fattening pigs were 0.966 and 0.963, respectively, considering the feeding area, the outside temperature, the body masses of the nursery and fattening pigs, and the thermal insulance factor of the enclosure. The heating requirements of commercial pig houses within the same building envelope followed the trend in Changchun > Beijing > Guiyang > Wuhan > Nanning. Increasing the building envelope’s thermal insulance factor or using precision heating could reduce the pig house’s power consumption. The analysis of the heating load and energy consumption of winter pig houses in various climate regions provided a reference for precise environmental control and the selection of building thermal insulance factors in China.

Differences in histomorphology and expression of key lipid regulated genes of four adipose tissues from Tibetan pigs.

Tibetan pigs, an indigenous pig breed in China, have high overall fat deposition and flavorful and tasty meat. They are thus good models for studying adipogenesis. Few studies have been conducted focusing on expression of lipid regulated genes in different adipose tissues of Tibetan pigs. Therefore, we compared the difference of histomorphology and expression level of lipid regulated genes through qPCR and western blot in subcutaneous fat, perirenal fat, omental adipose tissue, and inguinal fat of Tibetan pigs. Our results showed that the area of subcutaneous adipocytes in Tibetan pigs was smaller, while the other three adipose tissues (perirenal fat, greater omentum fat, inguinal fat) had cell areas of similar size. The gene expression of FABP4, FASN, FABP3, and ME1 in subcutaneous fat was significantly higher than that in perirenal fat. Furthermore, the protein expression of FABP4 was significantly lower in subcutaneous fat than in perirenal fat (p < 0.05), and the expression of FASN was higher in greater omentum fat than in subcutaneous fat (p = 0.084). The difference in adipocyte cell size and expression of lipid-regulated genes in adipose tissues from the various parts of the pig body is likely due to the different cellular lipid metabolic processes. Specially, FABP4 and FASN may be involved in the regulation of fat deposition in different adipose tissues of Tibetan pigs.

Height relative to body weight in nursery pigs.

Among the physical dimensions of the pig body, the height has received limited scientific focus. During transport, however, where multideck trucks and trailers typically are used, detailed knowledge about the height of pigs is relevant. The body weight of pigs is often known, whereas height is more difficult to quantify as part of the pre-transport management of the pigs. Nursery pigs are one category of European pig production often subjected to long distance transport for further fattening some weeks after weaning. The present study aimed to determine the height of pigs from 5-40kg of body weight, as well as the relation between height and body weight. The height and weight were measured for 1614 randomly selected pigs (castrates and females) from 10 Danish pig herds balanced between the two large breeding systems, DanBred (DB) and Danish Genetics (DG). From 9 herds, data from 1435 pigs of 2.8 to 40.6kg body weight were used for establishing prediction equations, while pigs from the tenth herd were set aside for validation. The study considered using 1) polynomial regressions of various order; 2) power functions; or 3) nonlinear growth curve models. Overall, the third order polynomial with sex specific intercept and the power function with sex specific log-intercept were optimal for prediction. Nevertheless, for feasibility and due to only marginal sex differences, we suggest using common intercepts for prediction of height from weight. Taken together, the results of the present study present data for pig height in the interval from 5-40kg body weight. Further, we suggest that a third-order polynomial or a power function can be used for pigs from at least the genetic systems DB and DG, if the pig height is to be predicted based on body weight.

The selected genes NR6A1, RSAD2-CMPK2, and COL3A1 contribute to body size variation in Meishan pigs through different patterns.

The high-fertility Meishan pig is currently categorized into medium sized (MMS) and small sized (SMS) based on body size. To identify causal genes responsible for the variation in body size within the two categories, we sequenced individuals representing the entire consanguinity of the existing Meishan pig. This enabled us to conduct genome selective signal analysis. Our findings revealed the genomes of MMS and SMS are stratified, with selective sweep regions formed by differential genomic intervals between the two categories enriched in multiple pig body size related quantitative trait loci (QTLs). Furthermore, the missense mutation c.575T > C of candidate causal gene NR6A1, accounting for the variation in lumbar vertebrae number in pigs, was positively selected in MMS only, leading to an increase in body length of MMS at 6 months of age. To precisely identify causal genes accounting for body size variation through multi-omics, we collected femoral cartilage and liver transcription data from MMS and SMS respectively, and re-sequencing data from pig breeds exhibiting varying body sizes. We found that two selected regions where the RSAD2-CMPK2 and COL3A1 genes are located, respectively, showed different haplotypes in pig breeds of varying body size, and was associated with body or carcass length in hybridized Suhuai pig. Additionally, the above three hub genes, were significantly greater expressed in SMS femoral cartilage and liver tissues compared to MMS. These three genes could strengthen the pathways related to bone resorption and metabolism in SMS, potentially hindering bone and skeletal development and resulting in a smaller body size in SMS. These findings provide valuable insights into the genetic mechanism of body size variation in Meishan pig population.

DETERMINATION OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY AS AN INDICATOR OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE TONE OF THE AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM IN PIGS

Research and study of the role of the autonomic nervous system in regulating the activity of the cardiovascular system in animals is relevant, as it will allow to deepen the existing knowledge about the vegetative regulation of the physiological functions of the pig body. The aim of the work was to study indicators of heart rate variability depending on the tone of the autonomic nervous system in pigs. Experimental studies were conducted on pigs. Three groups of animals were formed: normotonics, sympathotonics and vagotonics. On the basis of the conducted research, it was established that the normotonic animals had average values of the indicators that were studied in comparison with other experimental groups. In sympathotonic animals, a high heart rate of 95±1.41 beats/min (p≤0.001) and a low R-R interval intensity of 0.63±0.01 s (р≤0.001) were established. In vagotonics, these indicators were slightly lower at 54±1.24 beats/min and higher at 1.12±0.03 s (р≤0.001). In addition, sympathotonic pigs were characterized by the largest amplitude of the distribution mode of 39.55±2.23% (р≤0.001). It was somewhat lower in normotonics 25.00±0.83% and the lowest in vagotonics 11.90±0.54% (р≤0.001). The greatest difference between the maximum and minimum value of the mode was in vagotonic animals (0.25±0.01 s, p≤0.001), slightly lower in normotonic animals (0.13±0.01 s) and the lowest in sympathotonic animals (0, 07±0.01 s, p≤0.05). In vagotonic animals, on the contrary, a lower heart rate (р≤0.001), a longer R-R interval (р≤0.001), a smaller amplitude of the mode (р≤0.001), a lower stress index, an autonomous rhythm index, an autonomous balance index (р≤ 0.001), a greater difference between the maximum and minimum value of the mode (Δx). Thus, taking into account the obtained results, pigs, depending on the influence of the tone of the autonomic nervous system, have differences in the activity of the cardiovascular system.

Deep learning method for rapidly estimating pig body size

Context During pig breeding, a change in a pig’s body size is an important indicator that reflects its health. However, it is difficult to extract the necessary features from images to estimate pig body size without contact. Aims It is crucial to develop a fast and accurate body size estimation algorithm to meet the practical needs of farms, i.e., numerous body size detections. Methods This report presents a rapid pig body size estimation technique based on deep learning. The YOLOv5 model is enhanced by integrating MobilenetV3, and a lightweight object detection network is introduced as the feature extraction network. An attention mechanism is also added to this system. Following these improvements, the proposed YOLOv5_Mobilenet_SE model is more suitable for the small-target detection of key parts of live pigs. A depth camera was used at a fixed height to capture the pig’s back information, which enables calculations of the critical height, i.e., the body height, of live pigs. Other key measuring points on the pig are generated according to the detection frame of the key parts located by the model. A gradient boosting regression algorithm is used to establish the body size prediction model based on the Euclidean distance between the key measuring points and the actual body size data. Key results The upgraded YOLOv5_Mobilenet_SE model achieves a mean average precision of 3.9%, which is higher than that obtained using the original YOLOv5 model. The model size is reduced from 91.2 to 10.2 M, and the average detection time for each image is 4.4 ms. The mean absolute percent errors in terms of body size, body width, and body height are 2.02%, 1.95%, and 1.84%, respectively, relative to manual measurements. Conclusions This method greatly reduces the model size and detection time while ensuring accuracy, and therefore, this method can cut costs for farms performing pig body size measurements. Implications The results of this study can provide technical support for automated and digital monitoring in the pig breeding industry.

Study on Pig Body Condition Scoring Based on Deep Learning Model EfficientNet-B0

Pig body condition scoring is an important tool for pig farmers to ensure the health and nutritional status of pigs. An efficient and accurate body condition scoring method is very important to ensure the health of pigs. This thesis proposes an automatic and objective pig body condition scoring method based on deep learning and EfficientNet-B0. Traditional methods of visual examination and manual palpation are subjective, time-consuming, and can vary from observer to observer, leading to inconsistent and unreliable results. Deep learning model based on artificial neural network shows great potential in automating pig state scoring. The proposed method was trained and evaluated on a large pig image dataset, and compared with traditional manual methods and object detection deep learning algorithms. The results show that this method can improve the accuracy and efficiency of pig body condition grading, with a higher average accuracy of 85.66% for body condition classification, which has certain practical production significance and provides a foundation for further related research.

Water use patterns within each day: Variation between batches of growing pigs in commercial production systems

Objective: To measure, describe, and compare the water use patterns within each day for multiple cohorts of weaner, grower, and finisher pigs in farm buildings. Materials and methods: Prospective, observational cohort studies of the water use patterns within each day were conducted in 5 pig buildings using either a turbine or ultrasonic water flow meter attached to the main water pipe entering each building. Water use data were collected from multiple batches of pigs (second-stage weaners over eleven 48-day periods and grower-finishers over 4 periods of 21-43 days). Semi-parametric models of pig water use patterns within each day were estimated using the brms software package in R. To estimate the interacting effects of time and pig body weight on water use by pigs, we used tensor product smooths for time and pig body weight. Results: The water use pattern within each day varied between the cohorts, and the pattern of many cohorts changed as the pigs gained weight. Some patterns were unimodal and others were bimodal, with the main peak in water use occurring early afternoon to late afternoon. Implications: Water use patterns of pigs within each day varied between and within cohorts. The water use pattern of one cohort cannot be used reliably to predict that of other cohorts, even if they are reared in the same building. Water use pattern data may be valuable for optimizing in-water antimicrobial dosing regimens.

Effects of high vitamin and micro-mineral supplementation on growth performance and pork quality of finishing pigs under heat stress

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of heat stress (HS) on the production performance of fattening pigs and whether the supplementation of vitamins (C and E) and micro-minerals (Se and Zn) at increased concentrations can mitigate HS adverse effects. Thirty six Danbred hybrid barrows (65.1 ± 2.81 kg) were randomly distributed into four treatments 1) HS (28.9 ± 0.9 °C, RH- 60.4 ± 4.3 %) + control diet (HC), 2) HS + diet 1 (HT1), 3) HS + diet 2 (HT2), and 4) thermo-neutral conditions (19.5 ± 0.9 °C, RH- 85.9 ± 7.3 %) + control diet (TC). Bodyweight and feed intake were measured weekly for four weeks. After the experiment, six pigs from each treatment were slaughtered, and the &lt;em&gt;longissimus lumborum&lt;/em&gt; muscle was sampled to evaluate meat quality. At week four, HS significantly affected pig body weight (&lt;em&gt;p &lt;/em&gt;&amp;lt; 0.05). However, the other parameters were not significantly affected by HS,while slight improvements in these parameters were observed by supplementing vitamins and micro-minerals in the diet of the pigs despite exposure to HS. Therefore, the pigs used in the study showed resilience to adverse effects of HS on growth and meat quality parameters. The content of vitamins C and E and microminerals Se and Zn in the diet seems to play an important role in resilience to HS, therefore their requirement and supplementation should be carefully evaluated.

An improved PointNet++ point cloud segmentation model applied to automatic measurement method of pig body size

Currently, non-contact and automatic measurement of livestock body size is the research orientation of computer-aided livestock breeding and intelligent farming industry. However, directly locating the body size measurement key points on the dense overall point clouds of livestock often results in positioning deviation and affects the measurement accuracy. Additionally, various postures of livestock and the interference of different parts of livestock body are also prone to key points positioning deviations. For more accurate measurement of pig body size, we propose in our paper an improved PointNet++ point cloud segmentation model to subdivide the overall pig point clouds into various parts, such as the pig’s head, ears, trunk, limbs, and tail to localize the body measurement key points in the segmented local parts. A new body size measurement method based on segmentation results, which is integrated with the least squares, point cloud slicing, edge extraction, and polynomial fitting, is also presented in our study so that the pig body size parameters can be more accurately calculated. In our experiment, 25 live pigs and 207 groups of pig body point clouds were used for point cloud segmentation and body size measurements. Compared with manual measurements, the relative errors in our experimental results are listed as follows: body length: 2.57 %, body height (front): 2.18 %, body height (back): 2.28 %, body width (front): 4.56 %, body width (middle): 5.26 %, body width (back): 5.19 %, thoracic circumference: 2.50 %, abdominal circumference: 3.14 %, rump circumference: 2.85 %. To conclude, the new automatic measurement method based on the improved PointNet++ point cloud segmentation model with higher accuracy has a more promising application prospect thanks to its novel features, precise measurement results and stable robustness.

Improvements in Performance of Nursery Pigs Provided with Supplemental Oil Derived from Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae.

The current study evaluated the impact of increasing levels of supplemental black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) oil, a novel and sustainable feed ingredient, on growth performance and blood chemistry indices in nursery pigs. Pigs were weaned at 21 days of age (n = 192; body weight = 6.9 ± 0.15 kg) and randomly allotted within sex and body weight to 1 of 4 dietary treatments, using 48 pens (4 pigs/pen). Treatments contained 0, 2, 4, or 6% supplemental BSFL oil, replacing equivalent quantities of corn oil. A 3-phase feeding program was used with 14, 11, and 15 days for phase 1 to 3, respectively. Supplementation of BSFL oil linearly (p ≤ 0.052) improved pig body weight and daily gain throughout the study and overall. No differences were observed in feed intake; however, feed efficiency was linearly improved with BSFL oil supplementation for phase 1 and 2 (p < 0.05). Serum cholesterol increased linearly (p = 0.002) and platelet count tended to increase linearly (p = 0.082) with increasing BSFL oil. No other differences were detected in blood chemistry and all results were within normal ranges. In conclusion, BSFL oil is a valuable, energy-dense feed ingredient that can promote growth performance of nursery pigs.

HMH sked rescue system, revised deer sled, and ice fishing sled as humane on-farm handling tools to move nonambulatory grow-finish pigs on a commercial farm

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate an HMH sked rescue system, revised deer sled, and ice fishing sled as humane handling tools for moving nonambulatory pigs on a commercial wean-to-finish farm. Materials and methods: Eighteen commercial crossbred pigs received an epidural to induce a nonambulatory state. The HMH sked rescue system, revised deer sled, and ice fishing sled were tested as handling tools by 2 employees for time to place and move the pig, pig vocalization and struggle scores, and tool durability. Results: Time to place the nonambulatory pig from the start pen floor onto the handling tool, time to secure the nonambulatory pig on the handling tool, and total time were not affected by the handling tool (P ≥ .12). There was a trend for time to move the handling tool with the nonambulatory pig from the start to end pen, which included removing the pig from the handling tool and placing them onto the end pen floor (P = .06). The ice fishing sled was the most durable with no creases, rips, or holes. There were no handling tool differences for pig vocalization or struggle scores (P &gt; .10). Changes in pig respiration rate and pig body temperature did not differ between handling tools (P ≥ .71). Implications: Under study conditions, the sked, revised deer sled, and ice fishing sled were all humane tools to move nonambulatory grow-finish pigs. Caretakers need to evaluate the best choice for their farm.

Effect of Guanidinoacetic acid, a creatine precursor, in gestating and lactating sows

The creatine/phosphocreatine system plays an important role to supply energy on short notice, especially to tissues that have a high and variable energy demand. Creatine is produced in the body using glycine and arginine. However, endogenous synthesis of creatine has limitations and dietary intake of creatine is needed. Dietary supplementation of creatine is not possible in the diets that undergo pelleting because it is not heat-stable. Guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) is the immediate metabolic precursor of creatine and is heat tolerant. Guanidinoacetic acid is frequently used in animal feed as a source of creatine. The benefits of dietary supplementation of GAA to broilers and growing pigs are extensively reported in the literature. The gestating and lactating sows undergo periods of high energy demand where supplementation of GAA can improve energy efficiency and consequently improve the productivity of the sow and its offspring. We investigated the effect of dietary supplementation of GAA in gestating and lactating sows in three independent studies. We observed that when GAA was fed during the full gestation there was an increase in the number of pigs born alive (study 1 and 2) and when it was fed during the last two-thirds of the gestation period there was an increase in the pig body weight at birth (study 3). In the three studies, we observed that sows supplemented with GAA during lactation had heavier litters at weaning. In study 1, we observed a higher protein and amino acid concentration in the colostrum of sows fed GAA. The present studies demonstrated that supplementation of GAA to gestating and lactating sows can improve sow and litter performance.

HRST: An Improved HRNet for Detecting Joint Points of Pigs.

The body size of pigs is a vital evaluation indicator for growth monitoring and selective breeding. The detection of joint points is critical for accurately estimating pig body size. However, most joint point detection methods focus on improving detection accuracy while neglecting detection speed and model parameters. In this study, we propose an HRNet with Swin Transformer block (HRST) based on HRNet for detecting the joint points of pigs. It can improve model accuracy while significantly reducing model parameters by replacing the fourth stage of parameter redundancy in HRNet with a Swin Transformer block. Moreover, we implemented joint point detection for multiple pigs following two steps: first, CenterNet was used to detect pig posture (lying or standing); then, HRST was used for joint point detection for standing pigs. The results indicated that CenterNet achieved an average precision (AP) of 86.5%, and HRST achieved an AP of 77.4% and a real-time detection speed of 40 images per second. Compared with HRNet, the AP of HRST improved by 6.8%, while the number of model parameters and the calculated amount reduced by 72.8% and 41.7%, respectively. The study provides technical support for the accurate and rapid detection of pig joint points, which can be used for contact-free body size estimation of pigs.

Recognition and segmentation of individual pigs based on Swin Transformer.

Recognition of individual pigs is critical to the monitoring of pig body size and physiological health status in large-scale pig farms. In this study, deep learning methods were introduced in the intelligent recognition and segmentation of individual replacement pigs, which can realize the non-contact surveillance of each pig. Swin Transformer was used for the recognition and segmentation of individual pigs based on the surveillance data, and different models were compared to find the model with the fastest training speed and most accurate results. Finally, a recognition accuracy of 93.0% and segmentation accuracy of 86.9% for individual pigs were achieved with the surveillance video images of pigs based on Swin Transformer. Even in some complex scenarios such as overlapping, occlusion, and deformation, the method still exhibited excellent recognition performance for replacement pigs. Importantly, this method can greatly save labor as well as help intelligent and unmanned pig production and facilitate the modernization of pig industry.

5 The Use of Alginate Hydrogel Beads During Pig Transportation

Abstract During marketing, pigs are exposed to multiple stressors, including feed/water withdrawal, physical assertion, and mixing with unfamiliar pigs. These stressors can disrupt the homeostasis of the market pig, that in-turn could result in non-ambulatory-non-injured, non-ambulatory injured pigs or death. The objective of this study was to provide pigs electrolytes and a glucose source in alginate hydrogel beads (AHB) to determine if they could mitigate transportation stressors. A maternal neonatal pheromone was added to the AHB to encourage consumption. Sixty (PIC USA Camborough-22 sow line) market pigs (BW 122.27± 32.72 kg), including barrows and gilts were allocated to two treatment groups, either AHB (n= 30) or control (CON) without AHB (n= 30). Pigs were acclimated to the AHB 72-h prior to transport and fasted 12-h before being loaded on a straight trailer and transported for a total of 4-h. Pig body weights were collected before and after transport and blood samples were collected via jugular venipuncture. Active and inactive postures and drinking behavior were recorded using GoPro Cameras during transport and 24-h post-transport using a DVR in one min scan sample. The study was a complete randomized design with pen as the experimental unit. The AHB did not affect the pigs body weight (P &amp;gt; 0.05). Blood chemistry and blood hematology measures showed treatment by time interactions for PH, PCO2, HCO3, BE, TCO2, TBIL and GLU (P ≤ 0.05). During transport AHB pigs displayed more lying than CON pigs (P &amp;lt; 0.05). After transport AHB pigs sat more (P &amp;lt; 0.05) and tended (P &amp;gt; 0.05) to move more than CON pigs. CON pigs engaged in more drinking than AHB pigs after transport (P &amp;lt; 0.05). In conclusion, AHBs had some positive welfare effects on pig physiology and behavior during and immediately after short transportation and show promise as a tool that could be practically implemented by the industry.

Assessing the impact of Ascariasis and Trichuriasis on weight gain using a porcine model.

BackgroundInfections with Ascaris lumbricoides and Trichuris trichiura remain significant contributors to the global burden of neglected tropical diseases. Infection may in particular affect child development as they are more likely to be infected with T. trichiura and/or A. lumbricoides and to carry higher worm burdens than adults. Whilst the impact of heavy infections are clear, the effects of moderate infection intensities on the growth and development of children remain elusive. Field studies are confounded by a lack of knowledge of infection history, nutritional status, presence of co-infections and levels of exposure to infective eggs. Therefore, animal models are required. Given the physiological similarities between humans and pigs but also between the helminths that infect them; A. suum and T. suis, growing pigs provide an excellent model to investigate the direct effects of Ascaris spp. and Trichuris spp. on weight gain.Methods and resultsWe employed a trickle infection protocol to mimic natural co-infection to assess the effect of infection intensity, determined by worm count (A. suum) or eggs per gram of faeces (A. suum and T. suis), on weight gain in a large pig population (n = 195) with variable genetic susceptibility. Pig body weights were assessed over 14 weeks. Using a post-hoc statistical approach, we found a negative association between weight gain and T. suis infection. For A. suum, this association was not significant after adjusting for other covariates in a multivariable analysis. Estimates from generalized linear mixed effects models indicated that a 1 kg increase in weight gain was associated with 4.4% (p = 0.00217) decrease in T. suis EPG and a 2.8% (p = 0.02297) or 2.2% (p = 0.0488) decrease in A. suum EPG or burden, respectively.ConclusionsOverall this study has demonstrated a negative association between STH and weight gain in growing pigs but also that T. suis infection may be more detrimental that A. suum on growth.

Apparent digestibility of energy and nutrients and efficiency of microbial phytase is influenced by body weight of pigs.

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that regardless of pig body weight (BW), increasing dietary phytase results in increased phytate degradation and improved digestibility of minerals, amino acids (AA), and gross energy (GE). Eighteen pigs were equipped with a T-cannula in the distal ileum and allotted to a triplicated 6 × 3 Youden square design with six diets and three collection periods of 7 d, for a total of nine replicate pigs per diet. This design was repeated four times to simulate four production phases, and there was a 7-d resting period before each collection phase started (BW at start of collections: 29.3, 53.6, 85.1, and 114.4 kg for phases 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively). Six corn-soybean meal diets were formulated by including 0, 250, 500, 1,000, 2,000, or 4,000 phytase units/kg feed (FTU). The six diets were used throughout the experiment. Samples of feces and ileal digesta were collected in each period. Results indicated that regardless of pig BW, increasing inclusion of phytase increased (quadratic; P < 0.05) apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of crude protein (CP) and most AA, increased apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of Ca, P, K, Mg (linear and quadratic; P < 0.05), and Na (linear; P < 0.05), but decreased (linear and quadratic; P < 0.05) AID and ATTD of GE. In all phases, ileal concentrations of inositol phosphate (IP) 6, IP5, IP4, and IP3 decreased (linear and quadratic; P < 0.05), whereas ileal inositol increased (linear and quadratic; P < 0.05) with increasing dietary phytase. However, as pig BW increased, AID of GE, CP, and AA increased (linear, P < 0.05), and the AID of a few AA (Met, Phe, Thr, Trp, Ala, Asp, Gly, and Ser) also increased quadratically (P < 0.05). The ATTD of GE, K, and Mg increased (linear and quadratic; P < 0.05), but ATTD of Ca and Na (linear; P < 0.05) and of P (linear and quadratic; P < 0.05) decreased as pig BW increased. Ileal IP6 and IP3 (linear and quadratic; P < 0.05) and ileal IP5 and IP4 (linear; P < 0.05) increased, whereas ileal inositol decreased (linear; P < 0.05) as pig BW increased. In conclusion, regardless of pig BW, increasing dietary phytase increased phytate degradation and inositol release in the small intestine, and consequently increased mineral and AA digestibility. Older pigs have reduced Ca, P, and Na digestibility, but increased K, Mg, AA, and GE digestibility compared with younger pigs. The efficiency of dietary phytase to degrade phytate appears to decrease as pigs get older.

Characterization of Lard Profile from Different Geographical Regions of Husbandries and Body Parts of Pig using FTIR Technique Combined with Chemometrics

In halal authentication, there is a necessity for vigorous, rapid, faultless, easy, and cost-worthwhile approaches to characterize adulteration materials in food or highly processed products. Lard adulteration in food and other consumer products has been a primary concern, especially among Muslims. This research has been conducted to characterize lard profile collected from different geographical regions, which is southern, northern, and central of Malaysia peninsular and different pig body parts such as belly fats (BL), back fats (BK), and shoulder fat (SF) using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) technique combined with chemometrics. The chemometrics evaluation on lard spectral was conducted by dividing two data sets into training for calibration model set and test set for validation model. Comparison between the Multiplicative Scattering Correction (MSC) and Second Derivative Savitzky-Golay (2nd DSG) data transformation was conducted to resolve the baseline issues. The Hotelling T Squared (T2) observed outliers detection and determined acceptance threshold based on the first three Principals Components (PCs). Spectral from FTIR spectroscopy showed a similar pattern of lard samples from different geographical regions and pig body parts. In this research, the PCA model of collected lards was established using Hotelling T2, and the quality of the model was determined using the projection method. These outcomes of the PCA- data-driven approach in this research has resolved the issue of obtaining a valid source of raw material for the preparation of certified reference material (CRM) of lard.

Impact of water flow rate on finishing pig performance.

A survey of 23 South Dakota pork producers in 2019 reported that 68% of the waterers in finishing barns had water flow rates above the recommended rate of 500–1,000 mL/min. The objective of the two studies was to determine the impact of water flow rate on finishing pig performance in the summer months. Study 1 used a total of 396 pigs in two groups in a 77-day trial (35.0 to 104.3 kg BW) with 6 pigs/pen and 1 cup waterer/pen. Study 2, conducted in a commercial style barn, used a total of 1,227 pigs in an 84-day trial (60.9 to 117.4 kg BW) with 26 pigs/pen and 2 cup waters/pen. Pens were assigned to one of three water flow rates (high, medium, low) based on the 3-hole settings of the water nipples (2.0, 1.0, and 0.8 mm; n = 22 and 16 pens/treatment for Study 1 and 2, respectively). Room temperature, outside temperature and relative humidity were recorded daily for both studies. In Study 1, water disappearance was recorded daily, and individual pen water flow rates were recorded every two weeks. At every diet phase change (26 ± 2.6 days), feed disappearance and individual pig body weights were recorded. Water flow rates averaged 1856 ± 188, 906 ± 214, 508 ± 100 mL/min for high, medium, and low flow settings, respectively. In Study 2, individual pen water flow rate, water disappearance, BW, and feed disappearance were recorded every two weeks. Water flow rates averaged 1115 ± 98, 906 ± 209, and 605 ± 203 mL/min for high, medium, and low flow settings, respectively. In both studies, there were no differences in final BW, cumulative ADG, or G:F. Due to the variability of water flow rate within a setting, data was further analyzed using regression with flow rate as the independent variable. Apart from average daily water disappearance (adj. R2 = 0.87), there was a low relationship between pig performance and water flow rate (adj. R2 < 0.09). The low R2 values associated with pig performance and the high association with water disappearance suggests that water flow rate above current recommendations has little impact on finishing pig performance but does contribute to water wastage and its associated costs.