Postnatal adaptation of the gastrointestinal tract in neonatal pigs: a possible role of milk-borne growth factors

114

112

The construction of a suitable farrowing environment is a continuing dilemma: the piglet's needs must be matched with those of the sow and the farmer during the main phases that constitute farrowing: nest building, parturition and lactation. Difficulties exist in resolving the various conflicts of interest between and within these three parties (e.g. sow v. farmer: space needed for nest building v. space needed to maximise the amount of farrowing accommodation, or sow v. sow: ensuring the survival of the current litter v. maintaining condition for future litters). Thus, the challenge is to resolve these conflicts and design a system that maximises sow and piglet welfare while maintaining an economically efficient and sustainable enterprise. In order to successfully design a farrowing and lactation environment, it is necessary to consider the biological needs of both the sow and her litter. The natural behaviour of the sow has been well documented and very little variation exists between reports of peri-parturient behaviour observed in extensively kept domestic sows and their wild counterparts. The failure for domestication to significantly alter these behavioural patterns provides evidence that they are biologically significant and that the commercial farrowing environment should attempt to accommodate this behavioural repertoire. In addition, the behavioural needs of the piglets, as well as the physiological needs of both sows and their offspring should be considered. This article aims to review the considerable body of literature detailing the behavioural repertoire of sows and their offspring during the different phases of farrowing, and the accompanying physiological processes. The focus is on identifying biological needs of the animals involved in order to synthesise the appropriate design criteria for farrowing and lactation systems, which should optimise both welfare and animal production.

Section: Parturition Early Lactation and Nest-occupationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alternative farrowing systems: design criteria for farrowing systems based on the biological needs of sows and piglets

Baxter

Lawrence

Edwards

2011

114

112

“…Indeed, 50% of pre-weaning mortality occurs within 3 days after birth (Tuchscherer et al, 2000) and mainly affects piglets characterized by low birth weight and low weight gain, which can be related to low colostrum intake (de Passillé and Rushen, 1989;Milligan et al, 2002). Colostrum intake plays a major role in piglet development by providing energy for thermoregulation (Le Dividich et al, 2005), enabling immune transfer from the sow (Rooke and Bland, 2002) and stimulating intestinal development (Xu et al, 2000). The amount of colostrum ingested is highly variable between piglets and depends on both the sow's ability to produce enough colostrum for the whole litter and the piglet's ability to extract colostrum from the teats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of colostrum intake on piglet survival and immunity

Devillers

Dividich

Prunier

2011

228

154

Colostrum intake from birth to 24 h after the onset of parturition ( T 24 ) was estimated for 526 piglets from 40 litters. Plasma concentrations of immunoglobulin G (IgG), lactate, glucose and cortisol were determined at T 24 for six piglets per litter. Plasma IgG concentration was also assayed at weaning (28 days) on the same piglets. Rectal temperature was measured at T 24 on all piglets. Mortality was recorded until weaning and comparisons were made between piglets that died before weaning and those that were still alive at weaning. The piglets that died before weaning had lower birth weight, lower colostrum intake, lower weight gain between birth and T 24 , and had a lower rectal temperature, higher plasma cortisol concentration and lower plasma IgG and glucose concentrations at T 24 than piglets still alive at weaning. In addition, a higher proportion of piglets that died before weaning had difficulty taking their first breath after birth and were affected by splayleg. Considering all piglets, colostrum intake was positively related to rectal temperature and plasma glucose concentration and negatively related to plasma cortisol concentration at T 24 . Plasma IgG concentration at T 24 was explained by colostrum intake, IgG concentration in the ingested colostrum, birth weight and birth rank (P , 0.0001). Plasma IgG concentration at weaning was related to plasma IgG concentration at T 24 (r 5 0.54; P , 0.0001) and to colostrum intake (r 5 0.32; P , 0.0001). Finally, body weight was explained by colostrum intake, birth weight and age until 6 weeks of age (P , 0.0001). These results show that colostrum intake is the main determinant of piglet survival through provision of energy and immune protection and has potential long-term effects on piglet growth and immunity.

“…Therefore, low colostrum intake appears to be a major cause of neonatal death (Edwards, 2002). The roles of colostrum for piglet's thermoregulation, immunity and intestinal development are well established (see reviews by Xu et al, 2000;Rooke and Bland, 2002;Le Dividich et al, 2005). Colostrum intake by piglets depends not only on their ability to extract colostrum from teats but also on the ability of sows to produce enough colostrum for the whole litter (Hoy et al, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability of colostrum yield and colostrum intake in pigs

Devillers

Farmer²,

Dividich³

et al. 2007

223

158

Colostrum yield and composition of 40 Landrace3Large White sows were determined from the onset of parturition until 24 h post partum. Colostrum yield was calculated by adding individual piglets' colostrum intakes for each litter. Colostrum was assayed for prolactin, progesterone, oestradiol-17b, immunoglobulin G and its nutritional composition was determined. Piglets' individual colostrum intake averaged 300 6 7 g and sows' colostrum yield averaged 3.67 6 0.14 kg (minimum 1.91 kg, maximum 5.31 kg). Live weight and characteristics at birth (umbilical cord already ruptured, splayleg, difficulty to breathe) were the major factors influencing individual colostrum intake. Colostrum yield was not affected by litter size, tended to be influenced by parity (P 5 0.059) and was lower when farrowing was induced (P 5 0.017). On the other hand, no relationships were found between hormone concentrations in colostrum and colostrum yield. Mean piglet birth weight and litter weight variation at birth were related to colostrum yield (r 5 0.38; P 5 0.015 and r 5 20.34; P 5 0.030, respectively). These results suggest that determinism of colostrum yield depends, in part, on global vitality of the litter but seems to be, most probably, affected by the capacity of sows to produce enough colostrum for the whole litter. Further studies are needed to understand the endocrine regulation of colostrum secretion in sows.