Old breeds, new solutions? Effects of two different traditional sire breeds on skin lesions, tail lesions, tail losses, performance and behaviour of rearing pigs.

Some studies indicated a relationship between modern, fast-growing, lean-meat-producing hybrid pigs and the occurrence of tail-biting, one of the major issues of conventional pig husbandry. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of different local, traditional sire breeds on the behaviour and performance of rearing pigs. Between December 2019 and November 2020, a total of 1 561 piglets were weaned from hybrid sows (Bundes Hybrid Zucht Programm (BHZP) Landrace × BHZP Large White) that were paired with either Swabian-Hall (SH), Bentheim Black Pied (BB) or BHZP-Piétrain (Pi) boars. Tails of the piglets were left intact (43.5%) or docked (56.5%), and male piglets were castrated. Piglets were conventionally reared on fully slatted plastic flooring in mixed-sex groups. Starting one day after weaning, skin lesions were scored once per pig, and tail lesions and losses were scored weekly until the end of rearing. The average daily gain was documented for the suckling and rearing period. The activity behaviour of eight focal pens was analysed using video recordings. Differences between modern and traditional breeds were found in this study for so-called aggressive and non-aggressive biting pronounced by skin and tail lesions and tail losses. Significantly fewer BB pigs had severe skin lesions on the front body than SH or Pi pigs (P < 0.05). Additionally, piglets that were classified as light (<5.6 kg) at weaning showed skin lesion scores of 0 more often than piglets that were classified with a medium (≥5.6-≤8.3 kg) or heavy (>8.3 kg) weaning weight (P < 0.05). In the first half of the rearing period, significantly more BB pigs were assessed as having no tail lesions and tail losses than SH and Pi pigs (P < 0.01). However, these differences disappeared in the second half of rearing. Either docked or undocked Pi pigs had significantly higher average daily gains than SH and BB pigs (P < 0.05). The activity of the focal pens was not influenced by the sire breed or tail lesion class, which might be due to the limited sample size of eight pens. To conclude, the use of the traditional sire breed BB has the potential to reduce injurious behaviour in the offspring. However, adjustments to the housing and feeding should be taken to further reduce the incidence of tail lesions and losses and to enhance performance.

Suitability of semen stress tests for predicting fertilizing capacity of boar ejaculates.

Besides classical semen parameters, semen stress tests (SSTs) are helpful tools to assess the fertilizing capacity of sperm. However, valid studies on SSTs in relation to fertility are rare because several corrections of common fertility parameters for female and male effects are required. Therefore, over a one-year period, we analyzed semen parameters of 260 ejaculates obtained from 130 Pietrain boars aged between 8 and 9 months in one AI center as well as 1521 corresponding insemination records for these ejaculates. Two consecutive ejaculates (4th and 5th) were collected from each boar and extended in DiluPorc™ BTS. In addition to routine semen evaluation, sperm motility was assessed after heat-resistance test (300 min incubation at 38 °C after seven days storage at 16 °C, HRT) and cold-resistance test (10 min incubation at 38 °C after three days storage at 6 °C, CRT). Generalized linear models (GLMs) were applied to analyze effects for the following predictors of farrowing rate (FR), number of total born (NTB) and live born (NLB) piglets: farm (P = 0.013 [FR], P = 0.001 [NTB], P = 0.023 [NLB]), parity (P = 0.679, P = 0.01, P < 0.001), weekday (P = 0.012, P = 0.08, P = 0.009) and year × season (P < 0.001, P = 0.688, P = 0.574). On boar level, GLMs revealed significant effects on FR, NTB and NLB for the predictors sow (all P < 0.001), total sperm number per dose (P = 0.007, P = 0.002, P < 0.001), total sperm motility (P = 0.002, P = 0.2, P = 0.003) and mitochondrial activity (P = 0.004, P < 0.001, P = 0.002). Moreover, FR and NTB were influenced by membrane integrity (both P < 0.001), FR and NLB by cold-resistance (P < 0.001, P = 0.043), and NTB and NLB by sperm morphology (P = 0.001, P < 0.001) and boar (both P < 0.001). NLB was additionally influenced by heat-resistance (P = 0.004) and farm (P = 0.018) and solely NTB was influenced by sperm output (P = 0.03). Boar and semen related factors explained 9% of the total variation in NTB and 7% of the total variation in NLB. Only 14.2% (n = 37) of the samples were both cold- and heat-resistant (≥65% of motile sperm). Cold- and heat-resistance were dependent factors (Chi-square, P = 0.001) and sperm motility after CRT and HRT showed a moderate positive correlation (rs = 0.40, P < 0.001, Spearman's rho). Finally, ROC curves demonstrated that neither SST can be used as a sole test for predicting the fertilizing capacity of boar ejaculates.

Dietary approaches reducing boar taint-Importance of Lawsonia intracellularis colonisation for interpreting results.

In the fattening of male pigs, boar odour is a major problem with regard to the acceptance of the meat by consumers. Skatole can be one cause. Tryptophan from non-digested feed ingredients and intestinal cell debris can be the precursor in skatole formation. Lawsonia intracellularis, one of the most widespread pathogens in swine, promotes the epithelial cell turnover and might favour the tryptophan influx into the hindgut. Therefore, the question arises how far the severity of a Lawsonia intracellularis infection has an effect on results of dietary experiments with specific issues. Fifty finishing boars from a specific pathogen-free farm were randomly allotted to ten boxes in five feeding groups. Natural developing Lawsonia intracellularis colonisation was monitored serologically (twice individually) and molecular biologically (weekly individually). Over 4 weeks, animals were fed either a finely ground pelleted diet (FP), a coarsely ground meal diet (CM), a meal diet either with 22% cracked corn (CORN), 16.9% dried whey (WHEY) or 30% raw potato starch (RPS). Fifty % of animals showing lower differences in serological Lawsonia intracellularis values between the start and the end of the trial were characterised by a higher dry matter content in faeces (256 ± 29.4 vs. 239 ± 23.6 g/kg). Lawsonia intracellularis-negative caecal samples showed the highest butyrate concentrations (27.2 ± 7.53 mmol/kg). Lawsonia intracellularis-negative faecal samples of group FP showed the highest DM levels in faeces (neg: 290 ± 46.1/pos: 250 ± 52.2 g/kg); negative samples from group RPS had the lowest values (217 ± 24.4 g/kg). Lawsonia intracellularis-negative faecal samples from the group CM were lower in skatole than positive samples (82.8 ± 32.8 vs. 119 ± 29.3 µg/g DM). RPS group samples without pathogen detection had the lowest skatole concentrations (30.5 ± 36.3 µg/g DM). This study provides first evidence that clinically unremarkable colonisation with intestinal pathogens might influence the results of dietary approaches.

Parental factors in children's active transport to school.

OBJECTIVE: Identify non-distance factors related to children's active transport (AT) to school, including parental, home, and environment characteristics. Understanding the factors related to children's AT to school, beyond distance to school, could inform interventions to increase AT and children's overall physical activity. STUDY DESIGN: Participants were in the Neighborhood Impact on Kids Study, a longitudinal, observational cohort study of children aged 6-11 and their parents in King County, WA and San Diego County, CA between 2007 and 2009. Parents reported frequency and mode of child transport to school, perceived neighbourhood, home and family environments, parental travel behaviours, and sociodemographics. METHODS: Children living less than a 20 minute walk to school were in this analysis. Children classified as active transporters (walked/bicycled to or from school at least once per week) were compared with those not using AT as often. RESULTS: Children using AT were older and had parents who reported themselves using active transport. Having a family rule that restricts the child to stay within sight of the parent or home and more parent working hours were related to lower odds of a child using AT. CONCLUSIONS: Children's AT to school is associated with parental AT to work and other locations. Interventions should be considered that enable whole family AT, ameliorate safety concerns and decrease the need for parental supervision, such as walking school buses.

Associations of functional candidate genes derived from gene-expression profiles of prenatal porcine muscle tissue with meat quality and muscle deposition.

Ten genes (ANK1, bR10D1, CA3, EPOR, HMGA2, MYPN, NME1, PDGFRA, ERC1, TTN), whose candidacy for meat-quality and carcass traits arises from their differential expression in prenatal muscle development, were examined for association in 1700 performance-tested fattening pigs of commercial purebred and crossbred herds of Duroc, Pietrain, Pietrain x (Landrace x Large White), Duroc x (Landrace x Large White) as well as in an experimental F(2) population based on a reciprocal cross of Duroc and Pietrain. Comparative sequencing revealed polymorphic sites segregating across commercial breeds. Genetic mapping results corresponded to pre-existing assignments to porcine chromosomes or current human-porcine comparative maps. Nine of these genes showed association with meat-quality and carcass traits at a nominal P-value of < or = 0.05; PDGFRA revealed no association reaching the P < or = 0.05 threshold. In particular, HMGA2, CA3, EPOR, NME1 and TTN were associated with meat colour, pH and conductivity of loin 24 h postmortem; CA3 and MYPN exhibited association with ham weight and lean content (FOM) respectively at P-values of < 0.003 that correspond to false discovery rates of < 0.05. However, none of the genes showed significant associations for a particular trait across all populations. The study revealed statistical-genetic evidence for association of the functional candidate genes with traits related to meat quality and muscle deposition. The polymorphisms detected are not likely causal, but markers were identified that are in linkage disequilibrium with causal genetic variation within particular populations.

Late results following to side-to-side anastomosis of the small intestine in infancy and childhood.

1. Malabsorptions and anemia can be used by ulceration or stenosis of the anastomosis, also well known in other anastomotic techniques. 2. Long-term problems are seldom seen in children secondary to side-to-side anastomosis if the technique is satifactory. Blind pouches may result from unsatisfactory technique, or may develop just as in the adult. They may or may not be symptomatic. We surely have to ask whether the blind loop will really grow with the growing child. Nevertheless this study only has historical character because since 1965 we only use end-to-end anastomosis and its modifications with the well known good results.