Kimberly VanderWaal (University of Minnesota) comments on the use of sequence data by veterinarians, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
Kimberly VanderWaal (University of Minnesota) comments on RFLP types and differentiation of viruses, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
Kimberly VanderWaal (University of Minnesota) talks about genome sequencing and classification of viruses, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
In the U.S., consolidation and vertical integration of the swine industry has been associated with dramatic changes in breeding herd management. For example, the proportion of sows bred via artificial insemination increased from approximately 8% in 1991 (Burke, 2000) to nearly 70% in 2000 (Lawrence and Grimes, 2001). In a typical large-scale swine operation, semen is collected once or twice a week from boars located at off-site "boar studs". Studs usually house 200 or more boars....
Don Giesting (Cargill) discusses the characteristics of zearalenone and deoxynivalenol (DON), as well as their impact on reproduction and feed intake, during this Swine It interview with host Laura Greiner....
1. Introduction Artificial insemination (AI) in modern pig reproduction requires liquid-stored extended-semen. Extenders provide sperm with nutrients to maintain metabolic processes (1), prevent cold shock (2), control osmotic pressure and pH (3), and antibiotics present in extender inhibit bacterial growth (4). Despite the substantial improvements made on extender formulations in recent years, the quality of stored sperm decreases over time primarily due to the increased...
In this Engormix interview, Todd Thurman (Swine Insights International) explains how to keep the best balance between different goals: genetic progress and commercial production....
Nick Gallina (Purdue University) Background: Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC) strains are the primary perpetrators of colibacillosis in piglets, resulting in mortality and agribusiness economic woes. ETEC expressing fimbrial antigens, F4 and F18, are the predominant contributors to colibacillosis. F4 is most prevalent in neonatal diarrhea. F18 is more common in post-weaning colibacillosis. Intestinal epithelial interaction and...
Nick Gallina (Purdue University) speaks on serotypes of E. coli in pigs, and presents studies aimed at developing more effective mitigation measures using cell models, during the 11th Symposium on Gut Health in Production of Food Animals in St. Louis, USA....
Introduction: Aujeszky disease is still a major pathogen causing respiratory problem and reproduction failure in Taiwanese swine herds. Though eradication program in breeder farms is in progress, no standard vaccination program recommended for commercial farms. Recently Area Regional Control (ARC) became popular for its benefit of diseases control in an area level. In this study, we report a survey on sero-prevalence of Aujeszky disease in a small swine production group in east...
Introduction: In mated sows, corpus luteum (CL) function is important for the establishment of the pregnancy. The maximum CL size is established at day 8 - 9 of the pregnancy and maintained autonomous until day 12. Then, CL maintenance will depend on hormones such as LH and PGF2α. PGF2α is released from the endometrium at day 14 and triggers CL regression. This regression can be prevented in pregnant sows due to estradiol production from the attaching conceptuses;...
Introduction: The genetic selection for increased litter size has resulted in a disproportionate increase in ovulation rate (OR). A higher OR was linearly related with decreased placental length at day 35 of pregnancy, which could inhibit foetal growth during further pregnancy (Da Silva et al., 2016). As increased litter size has resulted in a decreased piglet birth weight and increased within litter birth weight variation, we investigated the relationship between OR and litter...
Introduction: Piglet mortality causes welfare challenges and economic losses in commercial pig production. Crushing is the most common cause of death, but as an empty stomach is frequently found in crushed piglets, starvation is often a precursor to be crushed. Piglets are born with a limited resource of energy in the form of glycogen and with very little body fat. Thus an abundant amount of sow colostrum and later sows milk is vital for the survival of the piglets. In...
Introduction: Benchmarking has been widely practiced worldwide in the swine industry to improve farm management and productivity. Best practice benchmarking is defined as identifying those practices and processes associated with superior efficiency and performance. In the best-practice benchmarking for breeding farms, measurements in high-performing and ordinary farms have been used to provide values of target performance, using the 10th or 25th upper percentile of the...
Having more piglets at birth is important, and it is even more crucial to keep them alive and healthy until weaning. The challenge with hyperprolific sows is that they produce high number of piglets with a large variety of weaning weights. It is particularly those piglets with lower body weights that...
1. Introduction Artificial insemination (AI) in modern pig reproduction requires liquid-stored extended semen. Extenders provide sperm with nutrients to maintain metabolic processes, prevent cold shock, control osmotic pressure an pH, and antibiotics present in extender inhibit bacterial growth. Despiste the substantial improvements made on extender formulations in recent years. the quality of stored sperm decreases over time primarily due to the increased damage the plasma...
Introduction The continuous increase in the area cultivated with genetically modified (GM) crops [1] and consequently their ubiquitous presence makes it increasingly difficult for consumers to avoid GM products. However, the dispute regarding the safety of GM crops is far from resolved [2] and consumer opinions vary over time and from country to country [3,4]. Bt MON810 maize is resistant to attack by Lepidopterae pests, as it expresses the Cry1Ab protein [5]. This protein is...