On-Farm Welfare Assessment Protocol for Suckling Piglets: A Pilot Study.

Piglets experience welfare issues during the nursery phase. This pilot study aimed to test a protocol for identifying the main welfare issues in suckling piglets and to investigate relationships among animal-based indicators and management conditions. Litters (n = 134), composed of undocked and tail-docked piglets, were assessed at two farms. After birth, observations were made at the age of 7 days and 20 days. At each observation, housing conditions (HCs) were measured, and 13 animal-based indicators, modified from Welfare Quality, Classyfarm, Assurewel and others introduced ex novo, were recorded. A generalized linear mixed model was used, considering animal-based indicators as dependent variables and farm, piglets' age, tail docking and HCs as independent variables. The main welfare issues were lesions of the limb (32.6%) and the front area of the body (22.8%), a poor body condition score (BCS) (16.1%), ear lesions (15.5%), and tail lesions (9.7%). Negative social behaviour (e.g., fighting and biting) represented 7.0% of the active behaviour, with tail biting observed in 8.7% of the piglets. While lesions on the front areas of the body were mostly associated with the farm, tail lesions, low BCS, tear staining, and diarrhoea were associated with light and nest temperature (p < 0.05). In particular, tail biting increased with scarce light (p = 0.007). Tail docking did not influence any animal-based indicator except for tear staining which was higher in the tail-docked as compared to the undocked piglets (p = 0.05), increasing awareness on this practice as a source of negative emotion in piglets. The protocol tested may be a promising tool for assessing on-farm piglets' welfare.

Investigation of the Defatted Colostrum 1H-NMR Metabolomics Profile of Gilts and Multiparous Sows and Its Relationship with Litter Performance.

The aim of the study was to characterize the soluble metabolomics profile of defatted colostrum of sows at different parity number (PA) and to correlate the metabolomics profile with the Brix percentage estimate of colostrum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and sow productive traits. A total of 96 Meidam (crossbreed Large White × Meishan) sows of PA from 1-4 (PA1: 28; PA2:26; PA3:12; PA4:26) were included, and their productive traits were recorded at 10 days post-farrowing. Colostrum IgG was quantified using a Brix refractometer, and metabolomics profile was assessed using 1H-NMR spectroscopy. Sows' PA slightly influenced the metabolomics profile of colostrum. lactose and glycine were higher in PA1 compared with PA4 (p 0.05) and N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) tended to be higher in PA2 than PA3 and PA4 (p < 0.10). The Brix percentage of IgG was negatively associated with lactose and positively with creatine, myo-inositol, and O-phosphocholine (p < 0.05). Taurine was positively related to litter weight at birth. GlcNAc and myo-inositol were linked to piglet mortality at day 10 with a negative and positive trend, respectively. In conclusion, colostrum of gilts and multiparous sows had a similar metabolomics profile. Specific metabolites contributed to explanation of the variability in colostrum Brix percentage estimate of IgG concentration and the sows' productive performance.

Dose-response of different dietary leucine levels on growth performance and amino acid metabolism in piglets differing for aminoadipate-semialdehyde synthase genotypes.

Dose-response studies of dietary leucine (Leu) in weaners are needed for a proper diet formulation. Dietary Leu effect was assessed in a 3-weeks dose-response trial with a 2 (genotype) x 5 (diets) factorial arrangement on one-hundred weaned pigs (9 to 20 kg body weight (BW)). Pigs differed for a polymorphism at the aminoadipate-semialdehyde synthase (AASS) gene, involved in lysine (Lys) metabolism. Pigs received experimental diets (d7 to d28) differing for the standardized ileal digestible (SID) Leu:Lys: 70%, 85%, 100%, 115%, 130%. Daily feed intake (ADFI), daily gain (ADG) and feed:gain (F:G) in all pigs and ADG and F:G in two classes of BW were analyzed using regression analysis with curvilinear-plateau (CLP) and linear quadratic function (LQ) models. Amino acid (AA) concentrations in plasma, liver, muscle and urine were determined. AASS genotype did not affect the parameters. Dietary Leu affected performance parameters, with a maximum response for ADG and F:G between 100.5% and 110.7% SID Leu:Lys, higher than the usually recommended one, and between 110.5% and 115.4% and between 94.9% and 110.2% SID Leu:Lys for ADG for light and heavy pigs respectively. AA variations in tissues highlighted Leu role in protein synthesis and its influence on the other branched chain AAs.

Bacillus sp. probiotic supplementation diminish the Escherichia coli F4ac infection in susceptible weaned pigs by influencing the intestinal immune response, intestinal microbiota and blood metabolomics.

BACKGROUND: Probiosis is considered a potential strategy to reduce antibiotics use and prevent post-weaning diarrhea (PWD). This study investigated the effect of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens DSM25840 or Bacillus subtilis DSM25841 supplementation on growth, health, immunity, intestinal functionality and microbial profile of post-weaning pigs after enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) F4 challenge. METHODS: Sixty-four post-weaning piglets (7748 g ± 643 g) were randomly allocated to four groups: control basal diet (CO); CO + 1.28 × 106 CFU/g of B. amyloliquefaciens (BAA); CO + 1.28 × 106 CFU/g feed of B. subtilis (BAS); CO + 1 g colistin/kg of feed (AB). At day (d) 7, animals were challenged with 105 CFU/mL of ETEC F4ac O149 and then followed for fecal score and performance until d 21. Blood was collected at d 6, d 12 and d 21 for immunoglobulins, at d 8 for acute phase proteins, at d 8 and d 21 for metabolomics analysis. Jejunum was sampled for morphometry, quantification of apoptosis, cell proliferation, neutral and acid mucine and IgA secretory cells, and microarray analysis at d 21. Jejunum and cecum contents were collected for microbiota at d 21. RESULTS: AB and BAS reduced the fecal score impairment compared to CO (P < 0.05) at d 14. Body weight (BW), average daily weight gain (ADWG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and gain to feed ratio (G:F) did not differ between Bacillus groups and CO. AB improved BW at d 7, d 14 and d 21, ADWG ADFI and G:F from d 0 to d 7 (P < 0.05). At d 8, CO had higher plasma arginine, lysine, ornithine, glycine, serine and threonine than other groups, and higher haptoglobin than AB (P < 0.05). At d 21, CO had lower blood glycine, glutamine and IgA than BAS. Morphology, cells apoptosis and mucins did not differ. BAS and AB increased the villus mitotic index. Transcriptome profile of BAS and AB were more similar than CO. Gene sets related to adaptive immune response were enriched in BAA, BAS and AB. CO had enriched gene set for nuclear structure and RNA processing. CO had a trend of higher Enterobacteriaceae in cecum than the other groups (P = 0.06). CONCLUSION: Bacillus subtilis DSM25841 treatment may reduce ETEC F4ac infection in weaned piglets, decreasing diarrhea and influencing mucosal transcriptomic profile.

Effect of Mucine 4 and Fucosyltransferase 1 genetic variants on gut homoeostasis of growing healthy pigs.

Putative genetic markers have been associated with ETEC F4 (Mucine 4 [MUC4]; MUC4GG;CG as susceptible; MUC4CC as resistant) and F18 (Fucosyltransferase 1 [FUT1]; FUT1GG;AG as susceptible; FUT1AA as resistant) resistances respectively. In this study, 71 post-weaning pigs were followed from d0 (35 days old) to d42 (77 days of age) to investigate the effect of MUC4 or FUT1 genotypes on the mid-jejunal microbiota composition, pigs expression of genes related to inflammation (IL8, GPX2, REG3G, TFF3, CCL20 and LBPI) and glycomic binding pattern profile (Ulex europaeus agglutinin I [UEA] fucose-binding lectin and peanut agglutinin [PNA] galactose-specific), and on blood plasma targeted metabolomics profile, faecal score and performance parameters of growing healthy pigs. The MUC4 and FUT1 resistant genotypes improved the pigs' growth performance and had firmed faecal score susceptible genotypes in d0-d21 period. Pigs with MUC4GG genotype had a higher jejunal expression of genes relate to immune function (CCL20 and REG3G) than MUC4CG and MUC4CC pigs (p < 0.05). MUC4CG pigs had higher expression of TFF3 (implicated in mucosal integrity) than MUC4GG and MUC4CC (p < 0.05). FUT1 influenced the alpha- and beta-jejunal microbial indices. The FUT1AA group had a higher number of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to Lactobacillus genus, while FUT1GG group had a higher number of OTUs belonging to Veillonella genus. MUC4CC pigs had lower scores for UEA on brush borders and goblet cells in villi than MUC4GG (p < 0.05). FUT1AA pigs had lower UEA positivity and higher PNA positivity on brush borders and goblet cells than FUT1AG and FUT1GG (p < 0.05). Both FUT1 and MUC4 influenced the metabolic profile of healthy pigs. Results highlight the role of MUC4 and FUT1 on pig intestinal homoeostasis and improved the knowledge regarding the potential interaction between host genetics, gut microbiota composition and host metabolism in a healthy status.