Dataset Information

Dental disorders in sows from Swedish commercial herds.

ABSTRACT: Knowledge on dental disorders in commercial sows is limited although such conditions may have important animal welfare implications. In a pilot study, the dental and periodontal health of 58 sows (Landrace*Yorkshire-crosses) from 8 Swedish commercial pig herds, slaughtered at one abattoir, were investigated. The oral cavity was inspected and abnormalities were recorded on a dental chart modified for pigs. Dental abnormalities, absence of teeth, supernumerary teeth, tooth fractures, signs of caries, and malalignment were recorded. The study revealed that 19% of the sows had supernumerary teeth and 59% of the sows missed at least one tooth. Periodontitis, calculus and malalignment were observed in 33%, 45% and 17%, respectively. Tooth wear was very common both in incisors (total 83%) and in premolars/molars (total 84%). One or more tooth fractures (between 1 and 6 per sow) was found in 41%. Signs of caries was found in 9%. In order to assess oral health, three indices were used: calculus index (CI), periodontal index (PDI) and tooth wear index (TWI). Severe periodontitis, tooth wear in incisors and tooth wear in premolars/molars were found in 7%, 34% and 35%, respectively. With respect to animal welfare, the etiology and the effects of the disorders on health, stress and pain need to be investigated.

SUBMITTER: Malmsten A

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7273662 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Dental disorders in sows from Swedish commercial herds.

Malmsten Anna A Lundeheim Nils N Dalin Anne-Marie AM

Acta veterinaria Scandinavica 20200604 1

Knowledge on dental disorders in commercial sows is limited although such conditions may have important animal welfare implications. In a pilot study, the dental and periodontal health of 58 sows (Landrace*Yorkshire-crosses) from 8 Swedish commercial pig herds, slaughtered at one abattoir, were investigated. The oral cavity was inspected and abnormalities were recorded on a dental chart modified for pigs. Dental abnormalities, absence of teeth, supernumerary teeth, tooth fractures, signs of cari ...[more]

PMID: 32498715

Similar Datasets

Project description:Losses due to infectious diseases are one of the main factors affecting productivity in the swine industry, motivating the investigation of disease resilience-related traits for genetic selection. However, these traits are not expected to be expressed in the nucleus herds, where selection is performed. One alternative is to use information from the commercial level to identify and select nucleus animals genetically superior for coping with pathogen challenges. In this study, we analyzed the genetic basis of antibody (Ab) response to common infectious pathogens in health-challenged commercial swine herds as potential indicator traits for disease resilience, including Ab response to influenza A virus of swine (IAV), Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (MH), porcine circovirus (PCV2), and Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP; different serotypes). Ab response was measured in blood at entry into gilt rearing, post-acclimation (∼40 days after entering the commercial herd), and parities 1 and 2. Heritability estimates for Ab response to IAV, MH, and PCV2 ranged from 0 to 0.76. Ab response to APP ranged from 0 to 0.40. The genetic correlation (r G ) of Ab response to IAV with MH, PCV2, PRRSV, and APPmean (average Ab responses for all serotypes of APP) were positive (>0.29) at entry. APPmean was negatively correlated with PCV2 and MH at entry and parity 2 but positively correlated with MH at post-acclimation and parity 1. Genomic regions associated with Ab response to different APP serotypes were identified on 13 chromosomes. The region on chromosome 14 (2 Mb) was associated with several serotypes of APP, explaining up to 4.3% of the genetic variance of Ab to APP7 at entry. In general, genomic prediction accuracies for Ab response were low to moderate, except average Ab response to all infectious pathogens evaluated. These results suggest that genetic selection of Ab response in commercial sows is possible, but with variable success depending on the trait and the time-point of collection. Future work is needed to determine genetic correlations of Ab response with disease resilience, reproductive performance, and other production traits.

Project description:The number of born piglets per litter has increased in Swedish pig industry, and farmers are struggling to improve piglet survival. A common practice is to make litters more equally sized by moving piglets from large litters to smaller to make sure that all piglets get an own teat to suckle. Litter equalization is not always enough, as many sows have large litters and/or damaged teats, which results in an insufficient number of available teats. One way to solve this problem is to use nurse sows. A nurse sow raises, and weans, her own piglets before receiving a foster litter. The objectives of this study were to address how the use of nurse sows affects the welfare of sows and piglets and to explore how it impacts the contribution margin of pig production in Sweden. A literature search was made to investigate welfare aspects on sows and piglets. As there were few published studies on nurse sows, an expert group meeting was organized. In order to explore the impact on the contribution margin of pig production, a partial budgeting approach with stochastic elements was used for a fictive pig farm. Standard templates for calculating costs and benefits were supplemented with figures from existing literature and the gathered expert opinions. In Sweden, the minimum suckling period is 28?days while published studies involving nurse sows, all from outside of Sweden, weaned the piglets at 21?days. A Swedish nurse sow will thus get longer lactation period which might increase the risk of poor body condition, damaged teats, and shoulder ulcers. This indicates a reduced welfare of the sow and may lead to impaired fertility and increased culling risk. On the other hand, the piglet mortality could be reduced with the use of nurse sows, but the separation and mixing of piglets could be stressful. The partial budgeting suggested that the nurse sow system is slightly more profitable (+6,838 Swedish krona) per farrowing group during one dry and one lactation period compared to the conventional system. The result is, however, highly dependent on the input values, and welfare aspects were not considered in the calculations.

Project description:BackgroundA novel way to study the species composition and diversity of nematode parasites in livestock is to perform deep sequencing on composite samples containing a mixture of different species. Herein we describe for the first time the nematode community structures (nemabiomes) inhabiting Swedish sheep and how these are/were affected by host age and recent anthelmintic treatments.MethodsA total of 158 fecal samples were collected (n = 35 in 2007 and n = 123 in 2013-2016) and cultured from groups of sheep on 61 commercial farms in the south-central part of the country where most animals are grazed. Among the samples, 2 × 44 (56%) were paired collections from the same groups pre- and post-treatment with anthelmintics such as macrocyclic lactones, benzimidazoles or levamisole. Samples were analyzed for their nemabiome using the PacBio platform followed by bioinformatic sequence analysis with SCATA. Species richness and diversity were calculated and analyzed in R.ResultsNematode ITS2 sequences were found in all larval culture samples except two, even though the fecal egg counts were below the McMaster threshold in 20 samples. Sequencing yielded, on average, 1008 sequences per sample. In total, 16 operational taxonomical units (OTU), all with ≥ 98 % identity to sequences in the NCBI database, were recognized. The OTUs found represented nematode species of which ten are commonly associated with sheep. Multiple species were identified in all pre-anthelmintic treatment larval culture samples. No effects on nematode diversity were found in relation to host age. On the other hand, recent anthelmintic treatment lowered species richness, especially after use of ivermectin and albendazole. Interestingly, despite zero egg counts after use of levamisole, these samples still contained nematode DNA and especially H. contortus.ConclusionsOur findings provide evidence that nemabiome analysis combined with diversity index analysis provides an objective methodology in the study of the efficacy of anthelmintic treatment as both high and low abundant species were detected.

Project description:BackgroundInfections with bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) and bovine coronavirus (BoCV) are endemic to the cattle populations in most countries, causing respiratory and/or enteric disease. It has been demonstrated that herds can remain free from these infections for several years also in high prevalence areas. Organically managed (OM) dairy herds have been shown to have lower seroprevalence of both viruses compared to conventionally managed (CM) herds. The objective of this study was to challenge the hypothesis of a lower occurrence of BRSV and BoCV in OM compared to CM dairy herds. In November 2011, May 2012 and May 2013 milk samples from four homebred primiparous cows were collected in 75 to 65 OM and 69 to 62 CM herds. The antibody status regarding BRSV and BoCV was analysed with commercial indirect ELISAs. Herds were classified as positive if at least one individual sample was positive.ResultsThe prevalence of positive herds ranged from 73.4% to 82.3% for BRSV and from 76.8% to 85.3% for BoCV among OM and CM herds, over the three sampling occasions. There was no statistically significant difference between OM and CM herds at any sampling occasion. The incidence risk of newly infected herds did not differ statistically between OM and CM herds at any sampling occasion, neither for BRSV nor for BoCV. The incidence of herds turning sero-negative between samplings corresponded to the incidence of newly infected. Bulk tank milk (BTM) samples were also sampled in the herds and analysed. Several herds were negative on individual samples but positive in BTM. Herd-level data on production, health and reproduction were retrieved from VÄXA Sweden and the study herds were representative of the source population.ConclusionThere was no difference in prevalence of or incidence risk for BRSV or BoCV between Swedish OM and CM herds. Because the incidence of herds becoming seropositive was balanced by herds becoming seronegative it should be possible to lower the prevalence of these two infections among Swedish dairy cattle herds if biosecurity is improved.

Project description:High temperature is an environmental factor that impairs sow fertility. In this study, we identified the critical weeks for heat stress effects on aspects of fertility performance, namely weaning-to-first-service interval (WSI) and farrowing rate (FR). We also examined the threshold temperatures above which the fertility performance deteriorated and whether there were any differences between parities regarding heat stress effects or thresholds. Performance data of sows in 142 herds from 2011 to 2016 were matched to appropriate weekly averaged daily maximum temperatures (Tmax) from weather stations close to the herds. Two types of ratios (i.e., ratio for WSI and odds ratio for FR) were used to identify the critical weeks for heat stress by comparing the respective measures for two sow groups based on Tmax in different weeks around weaning or service events. The ratios for WSI were calculated between groups of sows exposed to Tmax ≥ 27 °C or <27 °C in each week before weaning, with the Tmax cutoff value based on a recent review study. Similarly, the odds ratios for FR for the two groups were calculated in weeks around service. The weeks with the largest differences in the fertility measures between the two Tmax groups (i.e., the highest ratio for WSI and the lowest odds ratio for FR) were considered to be the critical weeks for heat stress. Also, piecewise models with different breakpoints were constructed to identify the threshold Tmax in the critical week. The breakpoint in the best-fit model was considered to be the threshold Tmax. The highest ratios for WSI were obtained at 1 to 3 wk before weaning in parity 1 and 2 or higher sow groups. The threshold Tmax leading to prolonged WSI was 17 °C for parity 1 sows and 25 °C for parity 2 or higher sows. Increasing Tmax by 10 °C above these thresholds increased WSI by 0.65, and 0.33 to 0.35 d, respectively (P < 0.01). For FR, the lowest odds ratios were obtained at 2 to 3 wk before service in parity 0, 1, and 2 or higher sow groups. The threshold Tmax leading to reductions in FR was 20, 21, and 24 to 25 °C for parity 0, 1, and 2 or higher sow groups, respectively. Increasing Tmax by 10 °C above these thresholds decreased FR by 3.0%, 4.3%, and 1.9% to 2.8%, respectively (P < 0.01). These results indicate that the critical weeks for heat stress were 2 to 3 wk before service for FR and 1 to 3 wk before weaning for WSI. The decreases in fertility performance in parity 0 to 1 sows started at temperatures 3 to 8 °C lower than in parity 2 or higher sows.

Dataset Information

Dental disorders in sows from Swedish commercial herds.

Publications

Dental disorders in sows from Swedish commercial herds.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets