Effect of Endogenous Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites on Reproduction in Wild Pigs - A Non Invasive Approach

Abstract

Wild pigs are found to be the most prolific, very intelligent and secretive. These animals are adaptive ecological generalists and survive in wide range of habitats worldwide. The reproductive traits of wild pigs are extraordinary showing high prolificacy. Corticosteroids can exert inhibitory and facilitory effects on reproduction. In order to assess the attributable stress on reproduction a non-invasive method of assessing faecal glucocorticoid metabolites was applied in this study. Samples from wild pigs from three different regions were collected and were subjected to Enzyme Linked Imuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the effect of stress on reproduction in wild pigs. Corticosteroids may act at the level of the ovary to suppress aromatase activity and thereby reduce the elevated circulating estrogens considered by many to be responsible for hyper secretion of Lutenizing Hormone (LH). Interestingly the acute level of stress is found to be facilitory and the chronic found to be inhibitory.

Faecal biomarkers of gastrointestinal functionality in animals

“…Additionally, glucocorticoid concentrations in faecal samples of pigs from the Eastern and Western Ghats of Tamil Nadu, India, were determined using the DSI-EIA kit. An increased mean faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentration was found in Western Ghat pigs (343 ng/g faeces) compared to Eastern Ghat pigs (224 ng/g faeces), attributed to lack of food, human interference, and environmental changes (Allwin et al, 2016).…”

Stress in wildlife: comparison of the stress response among domestic, captive, and free-ranging animals

“…Wild boars and domestic pigs belong to the same species (Sus scrofa); thus, their metabolic status can be easily compared. The data from free-ranging wild boars ( Table 1 ) were obtained from different tiger reserves in India ( 60 ). As is evident in Table 1 , their fecal levels were higher than those obtained from domestic pigs.…”