Effects of drying and providing supplemental oxygen to piglets at birth on rectal temperature over the first 24 h after birth

Abstract

Neonatal piglets can experience both a decrease in body temperature and hypoxia, increasing risks for pre-weaning mortality. This research evaluated the effects of drying and providing supplemental oxygen to newborn piglets on rectal temperature (RT) over the first 24 h after birth. The study used a CRD with 3 Intervention Treatments (IT; applied at birth): Control (no intervention), Drying (dried using a desiccant), Oxygen [dried using a desiccant and placed in a chamber (at 40% oxygen concentration) for 20 min]. A total of 42 litters (485 piglets) were randomly allotted to treatments at the start of farrowing. At birth, each piglet was given a numbered ear tag, weighed, and the treatment was applied; RT was measured at 0, 20, 30, 45, 60, 120, and 1440 min after birth. Blood was collected from one piglet from each birth weight quartile within each litter at 24 h after birth to measure plasma immunocrit concentration. There was no effect (P > 0.05) of IT on piglet RT at 0 or 1440 min after birth. Between 20 and 60 min after birth, piglet RT was lower (P ≤ 0.05) for the Control than the Drying treatment, with the Oxygen treatment being intermediate and different (P ≤ 0.05) from the other two IT. The effect of piglet birth weight on responses to IT were evaluated by classifying piglets into Birth Weight Categories (BWC): Light (< 1.0 kg), Medium (1.0 to 1.5 kg), or Heavy (> 1.5 kg). There were IT by BWC interactions (P ≤ 0.05) for piglet RT at all measurement times between 20 and 120 min after birth. Relative to the Control, the effects of the Drying and Oxygen treatments on RT were greater (P ≤ 0.05) for Light than heavier piglets. Plasma immunocrit concentrations tended (P = 0.07) to be greater for piglets on the Control treatment compared to the other two IT and were lower (P ≤ 0.05) for Light than Heavy piglets, with Medium piglets being intermediate and different (P ≤ 0.05) to the other BWC. In conclusion, drying piglets at birth reduced the extent and duration of RT decline in piglets in the early postnatal period compared to undried piglets, especially for those of low birth weight. However, the combination of drying and placing piglets in an oxygen-rich environment provided no additional benefit over drying alone.

The impact of birth weight, birth order, birth asphyxia, and colostrum intake per se on growth and immunity of the suckling piglets

“…In this context, the oxygen supply of neonatal piglets is one of the promising strategies reported in the literature; e.g., the recent study of Soraci et al 36 have demonstrated that oxygen supply improved physiological and productive parameters of piglets born with signs of asphyxia or very low birth weight. However the study of Vande Pol et al 37 have revealed that drying of piglets and oxygen supply provided no additional benefit over drying alone, which is contradicting to what reported of Soraci et al 36 and calling for more research.…”

“…Their findings suggested that piglets’ colostrum intake was affected by breed, while colostrum yield did not differ significantly between breeds. Thus, Declerck et al 37 has claimed that the association between breed and colostrum intake besides litter size was affected by other breed factors, such as udder morphology or teat access. However, in the present study neither assessment of the sow-associated factors was performed nor interrelationship between sow- and/or piglet-associated factors was investigated.…”

Progress on Infrared Imaging Technology in Animal Production: A Review

“…As a traditional temperature measurement method, rectal temperature is still widely used in actual animal production [ 16 , 95 ]. However, the process of rectal temperature measurement would cause discomfort and quickly produce contact stress [ 96 ].…”

Modeling Neonatal Piglet Rectal Temperature with Thermography and Machine Learning

“…Neonatal piglets are susceptible to hypothermia during the first several hours after birth because of a combination of a sparse hair coat, a lack of body fat, and limited body surface insulation (Vande Pol et al, 2021;Xiong et al, 2018). They are born wet, and energy is lost from their body surface when residual amniotic fluid is evaporated, causing the evaporative cooling of piglet skin (Curtis, 1970).…”

“…Pattison et al (1990) quantified piglet rectal temperatures from 10 to 90 minutes after birth with 10 minute intervals, and from 2 to 36 hours with 1 hour intervals. Nowland et al (2020) andVande Pol et al (2021) summarized piglet rectal temperatures measured at 10, 1440, and 4320 minutes after birth and at 0, 20, 30, 45, 60, 120, and 1440 minutes after birth, respectively, although their studies were conducted with additional treatments, such as caffeine supplementation, toweling or desiccant drying, and supplemental oxygen. Contactless infrared thermography combined with machine learning modeling may provide a better estimation of body temperature for supplemental heating device controls and thus decrease the probability of mortality within the first day of birth (Marchant et al, 2000).…”