Dataset Information

A 10-year trend in piglet pre-weaning mortality in breeding herds associated with sow herd size and number of piglets born alive.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Piglet pre-weaning mortality (PWM) is one of the biggest problems regarding sow performance and piglet welfare. Recently, PWM has increased in some countries, but it is not known if there are similar increases in other countries, nor whether increased PWM is related to either increased numbers of piglets born alive (PBA) or to sow herd size. So, the objectives of the present study were 1) to explore the trend in PWM in Spanish sow herds over a recent 10-year period, along with related measurements such as PBA, stillborn piglets, herd productivity and herd size; and 2) to examine the relationships between PWM and the related measurements.

Methods

Herd-level annual data from 2007 to 2016 for 91 herds in Spain were abstracted from a sow database compiled by a veterinary consultancy firm that asked client producers to mail data files on a regular basis. The database software automatically calculated herd-level PWM (%) as follows: the total number of piglets born alive to a sow completely weaned during a year (TPBA) minus the total number of piglets weaned by the completely weaned sow during the year divided by TPBA ×?100. All the statistical analyses were performed by using SAS University Edition. A growth curve model was applied to incorporate correlations for all of the observations arising from the same farm.

Results

Over the 10?years, herd means of PWM (standard deviation) increased from 11.9 (4.1) % to 14.4 (3.2) %, and mean PBA increased by 1.9 pigs. Mean age of piglet death during lactation increased by 3.8?days, and later years were significantly associated with herd size and the number of piglets weaned per sow per year (PSY; P??570 sows). Furthermore, as PWM decreased from 18 to 8%, herd productivity measured as PSY increased by 2.2 pigs in large herds, compared with only 0.6 pigs in small-to-mid herds.

Conclusion

Large herds were better than small-to-mid herds at alleviating the association between increased PBA and increased PWM. Also, the relationship between decreased PWM and increased herd productivity was improved more in large herds than in small-to-mid herds.

SUBMITTER: Koketsu Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7784010 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

A 10-year trend in piglet pre-weaning mortality in breeding herds associated with sow herd size and number of piglets born alive.

Koketsu Yuzo Y Iida Ryosuke R Piñeiro Carlos C

Porcine health management 20210104 1

<h4>Background</h4>Piglet pre-weaning mortality (PWM) is one of the biggest problems regarding sow performance and piglet welfare. Recently, PWM has increased in some countries, but it is not known if there are similar increases in other countries, nor whether increased PWM is related to either increased numbers of piglets born alive (PBA) or to sow herd size. So, the objectives of the present study were 1) to explore the trend in PWM in Spanish sow herds over a recent 10-year period, along with ...[more]

PMID: 33397499

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundIncreasing preweaning piglet mortality is a concern for veterinarians and producers in relation to sow performance and piglet welfare. Our objectives were (1) to characterize pre-weaning piglet mortality risk for sows (PWM) during early (0-1 days), mid- (2-8 days) and late (9-28 days) lactation and (2) to quantify the following five factors and their interactions, parity, number of piglets born alive (PBA), number of stillborn piglets (SB), gestation length (GL) and season for PWM during the three lactation phases.MethodsData obtained from 264,333 parity records of 55,635 sows farrowed in 2015 and 2016 from 74 Spanish herds. Three multi-level mixed-effects logistic regression models were separately applied for PWM during three lactation phases, which was analyzed as whether or not a sow had a piglet death (i.e. probability of a sow having a piglet death) in each phase.ResultsPWM during early, mid- and late lactation were 36.9, 27.0 and 15.4%, respectively. As PBA increased from 11 or less to 16 or more pigs, PWM during early and mid-lactation increased by 15.8 and 6.0%, respectively, but there was no increase during late lactation. Also, as GL decreased from 117-120 to 110-113 days, PWM during early, mid- and late lactation increased by 7.5, 6.8 and 1.5%, respectively. Additionally, PWM during the respective lactation phases increased by 8.3, 5.2 and 1.0%, as SB increased from 0 to 3 or more pigs. During early lactation, parity 1 sows had 2.1% lower PWM than parity 5 or higher sows, but during mid- and late lactation they had 4.2% higher PWM (P < 0.05). However, there was no difference between summer and winter for PWM during early lactation (P = 0.26).ConclusionManagement practices to reduce PWM need to take account of these factors, and be modified for different phases. For example, during early lactation special care should be given to piglets born to parity 5 or higher sows farrowing 16 or more PBA, having 3 or more SB or GL 110-113 days, whereas during mid- and late lactation more care should be given to piglets born to parity 1 sows with the same PBA, GL and SB conditions.

Project description:This study describes the fecal microbiota from piglets reared in different living environments during the weaning transition, and presents the characteristics of microbiota associated with good growth of piglets after weaning. Fecal samples were collected pre- (d26) and post-weaning (d35) from 288 male piglets in 16 conventional indoor commercial farms located in the West of France. The changes one week after weaning on the most abundant microbial families was roughly the same in all farms: alpha diversity increased, the relative abundance of Bacteroidaceae (-61%), Christensenellaceae (-35%), Enterobacteriaceae (-42%), and Clostridiaceae (-32%) decreased, while the relative abundance of Prevotellaceae (+143%) and Lachnospiraceae (+21%) increased. Among all the collected samples, four enterotypes that were ubiquitous in all farms were identified. They could be discriminated by their respective relative abundances of Prevotella, Faecalibacterium, Roseburia, and Lachnospira, and likely corresponded to a gradual maturational shift from pre- to post-weaning microbiota. The rearing environment influenced the frequency of enterotypes, as well as the relative abundance of 6 families at d26 (including Christensenellaceae and Lactobacillaceae), and of 21 families at d35. In all farms, piglets showing the highest relative growth rate during the first three weeks after weaning, which were characterized as more robust, had a higher relative abundance of Bacteroidetes, a lower relative abundance of Proteobacteria, and showed a greater increase in Prevotella, Coprococcus, and Lachnospira in the post-weaning period. This study revealed the presence of ubiquitous enterotypes among the farms of this study, reflecting maturational stages of microbiota from a young suckling to an older cereal-eating profile. Despite significant variation in the microbial profile between farms, piglets whose growth after weaning was less disrupted were, those who had reached the more mature phenotype characterized by Prevotella the fastest.

Project description:Weaning is a critical period for pigs. Some plant extracts showing antioxidant, anti-inflammatory or antibacterial properties, provided to piglets and/or their dam, may improve piglets' robustness at weaning, thus reducing the need for antobiotics. This study investigated the effects of a maternal and/or a direct supplementation of piglets with a combination of plant extracts on sow and piglet performance and their metabolic, immune, inflammatory, and oxidative status during lactation and around weaning. Sixty-four sows were assigned to the control or treated group. Treated sows were supplemented with a powdered plant extracts supplement daily top-dressed on feed from day of gestation (DG) 106 to day of lactation (DL) 28 and a liquid solution top-dressed on feed on DG109. Within each sow group, litters were divided into two groups: a control piglet group and a treated piglet group. A single dose of a liquid solution was orally given to piglets in the treated piglet group. Piglets were weaned on DL28. Blood samples were collected from sows on DG94, DG112, and DL26 and from 2 piglets per litter on DL3, DL14, DL25, and 5 d postweaning to analyze indicators of metabolic, immune, inflammatory, and oxidative status. Colostrum and milk samples were collected at farrowing, DL6, and 26. Maternal supplementation had no effect on sow metabolic, immune, inflammatory, and oxidative status except for fewer lymphocytes on DG112 (P < 0.05) and a lower plasma concentration of non-esterified fatty acids on DL26 (P < 0.05). Maternal supplementation tended to decrease dry matter and gross energy (P < 0.10) and reduced fat and haptoglobin concentrations (P < 0.01) in milk on DL26. Maternal supplementation had no effect on piglets' growth performance and blood indicators during lactation and around weaning. On DL25, the direct supplementation of piglets decreased their neutrophils proportion (P < 0.05), increased the expression of genes encoding pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines in whole blood culture in response to lipopolysaccharide (P < 0.05) and tended to decrease the oxidative stress index (P = 0.06). After weaning, these beneficial effects were no longer observed but the supplementation improved piglets' growth performance during the postweaning period (P < 0.05). Plant extract supplementation could thus modify the composition of mammary secretions and improve postweaning performance of piglets potentially related to the modification of their immune and oxidative status before weaning.

Dataset Information

A 10-year trend in piglet pre-weaning mortality in breeding herds associated with sow herd size and number of piglets born alive.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Publications

A 10-year trend in piglet pre-weaning mortality in breeding herds associated with sow herd size and number of piglets born alive.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets