Postnatal behavioral and physiological responses of piglets from gilts housed individually or in groups during gestation

Sorrells, A. D.; Eicher, S.D.; Scott, Karen A.; Harris, Moira; Pajor, E. A.; Lay, D. C.; Richert, B. T.

doi:10.2527/2006.843757x

Cited by 18 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Concerning the influence of the housing system during gestation on the offspring growth, Sorrells et al (2006) found that there were no significant differences in plasma tumour necrosis factor, α1-acid glycoprotein, haptoglobin and IgG concentrations in piglets from gilts housed individually or in groups during gestation. In the present study, we compared the serum biochemical indices of piglets from sows housed in different systems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Group housing during gestation affects the behaviour of sows and the physiological indices of offspring at weaning

Zhou

Sun

Wang

et al. 2014

animal

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To compare the behaviour of sows and the physiological indices of their offspring in stall and group-housing systems, 28 sows were randomly distributed into two systems with 16 sows in stalls, and the other 12 sows were divided into three groups with four sows per pen. The area per sow in stalls and groups was 1.2 and 2.5 m 2 , respectively. Back fat depth of the sow was measured. Salivary cortisol concentration of the sows, colostrum composition and piglets' serum biochemical indicators were evaluated. The behaviour of the sows, including agonistic behaviour, non-agonistic social behaviour, stereotypical behaviour and other behaviours at weeks 2, 9 and 14 of pregnancy were analysed. The results showed no differences in the back fat depth of sows. Colostrum protein, triglyceride, triiodothyronine, thyroxine and prolactin concentrations in the whey also demonstrated no significant differences between the two housing systems. Salivary cortisol concentration was significantly higher in the sows housed in groups than the sows in stalls. The concentrations of serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol were significantly higher in the offspring of sows housed in groups ( P = 0.006 and 0.005, respectively). The GLM procedure for repeated measures analysis showed the frequency of drinking, and non-agonistic social behaviour was significantly higher in the sows housed in groups than the sows in stalls; yet the frequency of agonistic and sham chewing demonstrated the opposite direction. The duration of standing was significantly longer in the sows housed in groups, but the sitting and stereotypical behaviour duration were significantly shorter compared with the sows in stalls. These results indicated that group housing has no obvious influence on the colostrum composition of sows; however, it was better for sows to express their non-agonistic social behaviour and reduce the frequency of agonistic behaviour and stereotypical behaviour. Meanwhile, group housing during gestation significantly increased serum total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol of offspring.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Group housing during gestation affects the behaviour of sows and the physiological indices of offspring at weaning

Zhou

Sun

Wang

et al. 2014

animal

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“…The AGP level is an indicator of the immune or physiological status (Sorrells et al, 2006). Its serum concentration has often been used as a marker of disease.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of L-proline on the Growth Performance, and Blood Parameters in Weaned Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged Pigs

Kang¹,

Zhang²,

Hou³

et al. 2014

Asian Australas. J. Anim. Sci

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This trail was conducted to study the effect of L-proline on the growth performance, and blood parameter in the weaned lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged pigs. Thirty six pigs (9.13±0.85 kg) were assigned randomly to dietary treatments in a 2×3 factorial arrangement in a 20-d growth assay. Factors were intraperitoneal injection with saline or LPS, and three dietary L-proline supplement levels (0%, 0.5%, or 1.0%). On d 10, blood samples were collected at 3 h after LPS (100 μg LPS/kg body weight [BW]) or saline injection. On d 20 of the trial, all pigs were orally administrated D-xylose (0.1 g/kg BW) at 2 h, and blood samples were collected at 3 h after LPS or saline injection. As a result, dietary supplementation with 0.5% proline had a tendency to increase average daily gain (ADG) in piglets during d 10 to 20 (p = 0.088). Without LPS challenge, dietary supplementation with 1.0% proline had no effect on growth hormone (GH) concentrations on d 10 (p>0.05), but decreased it after LPS challenge (p<0.05). There was LPS challenge×proline interaction for GH concentrations on d 10 (p<0.05). Dietary supplementation with 1.0% proline decreased glucagon concentration on d 10 after LPS challenge (p<0.05). In addition, dietary supplementation with proline increased superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity significantly on d 10 and 20 (p<0.05), and 1.0% proline increased heat shock proteins-70 concentration on d 10 (p<0.05). Moreover, proline supplementation increased diamine oxidase (DAO) concentrations after LPS challenge (p<0.05). There was LPS challenge×proline interaction for DAO (p<0.05). Furthermore, dietary supplementation with 1.0% proline increased the D-xylose level when no LPS challenge (p<0.05). These results indicate that proline supplementation could improve growth performance, increase SOD activities, and has a positive effect on the gastrointestinal tract digestibility in early weaned pigs.

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“…Social isolation has been shown to lead to elevated salivary cortisol in previous studies on growing pigs (de Jong et al, 1998;Ruis et al, 2001;Sorrells et al, 2006). In week 10 after mixing (the start of the experiment), pigs were individually removed from their home pen and relocated to a 1.75 m 3 1.75 m pen in a separate empty room for 15 min.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The impact of chronic environmental stressors on growing pigs, Sus scrofa (Part 1): stress physiology, production and play behaviour

O’Connor

Parker

McLeman

et al. 2010

Animal

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Commercially farmed animals are frequently housed in conditions that impose a number of concurrent environmental stressors. For pigs housed indoors, elevated levels of mechanical noise, atmospheric ammonia and low light intensities are commonplace. This experiment examined the effects on growing pigs of chronic exposure to combinations of commercially relevant levels of these potential stressors. Four-week-old hybrid female pigs (n 5 224) were housed under experimentally manipulated conditions of nominally either ,5 or 20 ppm atmospheric concentration of ammonia (24 h), a light intensity of 40 lux or 200 lux (12 h) and mechanical noise at either <60 or 80 dB(A) (24 h) for 15 weeks in a fully factorial arrangement (2 3 ) of treatments. The response of pigs to these environmental factors was assessed using a suite of physiological, production and behavioural measures. These included indicators of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activation such as salivary cortisol and adrenal morphometry, as well as body weight, food conversion efficiency and general health scores. Play behaviour was recorded as it is thought to be inversely related to stress. Chronic exposure to ammonia produced the strongest effect, shown by lower concentrations of salivary cortisol and larger adrenal cortices in the pigs reared under 20 ppm ammonia, which may have been indicative of a period of HPA activation leading to a downregulation of cortisol production. The pigs in the ammoniated rooms also performed less play behaviour than pigs in non-ammoniated rooms. There was evidence for an interaction between high noise and ammonia on the health scores of pigs and for brighter light to ameliorate the effect of ammonia on salivary cortisol. However, there was no measurable impact of these potential stressors on the productivity of the pigs or any of the other physiological parameters measured. We conclude that there should be little concern in terms of performance about the physical stressors tested here, within current European Union legal limits. However, 20 ppm ammonia may have had an adverse influence on the well-being of growing pigs. In this study, all other aspects of the pigs' husbandry were optimal; therefore, it is possible that under less favourable conditions, more pronounced effects of ammonia, noise and dim light would be observed.

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Postnatal behavioral and physiological responses of piglets from gilts housed individually or in groups during gestation

Cited by 18 publications

References 32 publications

Group housing during gestation affects the behaviour of sows and the physiological indices of offspring at weaning

Group housing during gestation affects the behaviour of sows and the physiological indices of offspring at weaning

Effects of L-proline on the Growth Performance, and Blood Parameters in Weaned Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-challenged Pigs

The impact of chronic environmental stressors on growing pigs, Sus scrofa (Part 1): stress physiology, production and play behaviour

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