scholarly journals Tranquillizing Effect of Passiflora incarnata Extract: Outcome on Behavioral and Physiological Indicators in Weaning Pigs with Intact Tails

Animals ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Grazia Pastorelli ◽  
Valentina Serra ◽  
Lauretta Turin ◽  
Veronica Redaelli ◽  
Fabio Luzi ◽  
...  

Tail docking has been used in the pig industry to decrease the occurrence of tail biting behavior. This abnormal behavior has a multifactorial origin since it is a response to simultaneous environmental, nutritional and management changes. Given the calming properties of Passiflora incarnata, we hypothesized that dietary supplementation with the extract in weaned pigs could result in a modification of behavior and physiologic indicators linked to stress. Weaned piglets (n = 120, mean body weight 9.07 ± 2.30 kg) were randomly allocated to one of two dietary treatments: control diet (CON) and CON supplemented with 1 kg/t of P. incarnata (PAS). The trial was 28 days long. The presence of skin lesions was assessed at d-1, d-10, d-19, and d-28, and saliva samples were collected for IgA and cortisol determinations at the same sampling times. Results showed the PAS group was characterized by equal growth performance as the CON group, fewer ear lesions (p < 0.05), less aggressive behavior (p < 0.001), higher enrichment exploration (p < 0.001) and lower cortisol levels (p < 0.01). Time effect was observed for tail lesions (p < 0.001) and behavioral observations (p < 0.001). Additional research is required to determine the effect of P. incarnata extract using a larger number of animals and longer period of supplementation when risks associated with tail biting are uncontrolled.

1987 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID FRASER

In two experiments, individually penned growing pigs were exposed daily to two "tail models" (lengths of cotton cord about the size of a pig's tail), one of which had been impregnated with pigs' blood. When fed a balanced "control" diet, the pigs chewed significantly more on the blood-covered model than on the plain one, but with large individual differences between animals. Four weeks of receiving a diet lacking all mineral supplements (iodized salt, dicalcium phosphate, limestone, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, and selenium) caused a pronounced increase in chewing the blood-covered model, and 4 wk of recovery on the control diet reduced, but did not completely eliminate, the enhanced attraction to blood. In a second experiment, a similar heightened response to blood was produced by omitting only iodized salt from the diet, whereas omission of all other mineral supplements led to a much smaller and statistically non-significant change. Although the causes of tail-biting are undoubtedly complex, the results suggest that heightened appetite for salt could make pigs particularly attracted to pen-mates with injured tails. Key words: Pigs, tail-biting, abnormal behavior, salt, sodium, mineral deficiency


2013 ◽  
Vol 95 (2) ◽  
pp. 825-830 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annalisa Scollo ◽  
Guido Di Martino ◽  
Lebana Bonfanti ◽  
Anna Lisa Stefani ◽  
Eliana Schiavon ◽  
...  

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 2184
Author(s):  
Anita Lange ◽  
Michael Hahne ◽  
Christian Lambertz ◽  
Matthias Gauly ◽  
Michael Wendt ◽  
...  

Feasible alternatives to stressful weaning and tail-docking are needed to inhibit tail biting. Therefore, we investigated the effects of housing systems for 1106 pigs that were weaned from: (1) conventional farrowing crates (FC), (2) free-farrowing pens (FF), or (3) group housing of lactating sows (GH) into (1) conventional rearing pens (Conv) or (2) piglets remained in their farrowing pens for rearing (Reaf). Tails were docked or left undocked batchwise. All pigs were regrouped for the fattening period. Pigs were scored for skin lesions, tail lesions and losses. After weaning, Conv-GH pigs had significantly less skin lesions than Conv-FC and Conv-FF pigs. After regrouping for fattening, Reaf-GH pigs had significantly less skin lesions than Conv pigs, Reaf-FC and Reaf-FF. The frequency of tail lesions of undocked Conv pigs peaked in week 4 (66.8%). Two weeks later, Reaf undocked pigs reached their maximum (36.2%). At the end of fattening, 99.3% of undocked Conv pigs and 43.1% of undocked Reaf pigs lost parts of their tail. In conclusion, the co-mingling of piglets during suckling reduced the incidence of skin lesions. Rearing in the farrowing pen significantly reduced the incidence of tail lesions and losses for undocked pigs. No housing system negatively affected the performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 2629
Author(s):  
M KAKANIS ◽  
EN SOSSIDOU ◽  
SK KRITAS ◽  
ED TZIKA

Tail-biting is an abnormal behavior of multifactorial origin, that consists a major problem in modern pig industry. It has a serious impact on both welfare and health status of the pigs involved, as well as on economic profitability of the farm. It is considered to be a problem of pig adaptation in poor environment triggered by a plethora of external and internal risk factors interacting with each other. A great variation exists on prevalence of tail biting between different studies across the world. Tail docking is the common practice applied by farmers to prevent this behavior, while treatments are based on enrichment material provision. The aim of this review is to explore the most recent literature on risk factors and impacts of tail biting and to discuss promising areas on early prediction and treatment of the topic.


The objective of this present study was to investigate the effect of feeding fermented mixture of papaya leaf and seed meal (FERM) on the physical and chemical characteristics of meats of the Indonesian indigenous crossbred chicken (IICC). The study was carried out with 300 day-old IICC. The chicks were randomly distributed to five treatment groups, i.e., CONT (control diet based on corn-soybean- diet), FERMA (diet containing 1% FERM), FERMB (2.5% FERM), FERMC (5% FERM) and FERMD (7.5% FERM). Each treatment group consisted of 6 replicates with 10 IICC in each. At week 8, one chick from each replicate was randomly taken and slaughtered. After being de-feathered and eviscerated, samples from breast and thigh meats were obtained. Results showed that the increased levels of FERM was followed by the increased (P<0.05) pH values, moisture and crude protein content of breast meats of the IICC. Dietary incorporation of FERM especially at the level of 2.5% increased (P<0.05) the content of fat in the breast meat of IICC, while further increased levels of FERM did not alter (P>0.05) the fat content of the IICC breast meat. Dietary treatment did not have any effect (P>0.05) on the lightness (L*) values of breast meat of the IICC. The redness (a*) values were higher (P<0.05) in FERMD breast meat than other. FERM diet resulted in lower (P<0.05) yellowness (b*) values in the IICC breast meat. The pH values and moisture content of thigh meat increased (P<0.05) with the increased level of FERM. The WHC decreased (P<0.05) with the elevated levels of FERM in the diets. There was an increase (P<0.05) in crude protein concentration in FERMA as compared to the other meats. Crude fat and ash concentrations in thigh meat were affected (P<0.05) by the treatments. Dietary treatments had no impact (P>0.05) on L* values of thigh meats. Feeding FERM at 7.5% from diets increased (P<0.05) and decreased (P<0.05) the redness and yellowness of meats. In conclusion, dietary inclusion of FERM especially at the level of 7.5% from diets improved the physical and chemical characteristics of the IICC meats.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 54-55
Author(s):  
Leigh Ruckman ◽  
Stacie Gould ◽  
John Patience

Abstract Mycotoxins may not be an issue every year, but the proper environmental conditions can cause a spike in contaminated grains and cause severe economic impact on pork producers. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of naturally occurring infections of deoxynivalenol, zearalenone and fumonisins (DZF) on growth performance and carcass parameters in grow/finish pigs. One hundred pigs (BW 34.0 ± 0.9 kg; L337 × Camborough, PIC, Hendersonville, TN) were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments with 10 split-sex pens/treatment. The control diet (CTL) contained low levels of DZF and the CTL+DFZ diet contained high levels of DZF. Diets were fed in 4 phases over the 126-d experiment period. The CTL diet contained 1.6, 1.6, 1.8 and 1.2 mg deoxynivalenol/kg and CTL+DZF contained 9.2, 6.9, 5.8 and 3.8 mg deoxynivalenol/kg in the 4 diet phases, respectively. The CTL contained 0.30, 0.32, 0.51 and 0.32 mg zearalenone/kg and 0.7, 0.8, 0.8 and 0.9 mg total fumonisins/kg; CTL+DFZ contained 0.59, 0.72, 0.86 and 0.57 mg zearalenone/kg and 1.0, 1.1, 1.2 and 0.9 mg total fumonisins/kg for phases one through four, respectively. Data were analyzed using PROC MIXED of SAS (9.4) with treatment, sex, and their interaction as fixed effects. Compared to CTL, feeding CTL+DFZ decreased final BW (130.3 vs 120.5 kg; P&lt; 0.001), ADG (0.95 vs 0.79 kg/d; P&lt; 0.001), ADFI (2.73 vs 2.49 kg/d; P=0.016), and G:F (0.35 vs 0.32; P=0.043). Feeding CTL+DFZ decreased HCW (92.3 vs 89.4 kg; P=0.024) and increased dressing percentage (70.9 vs 74.3%; P=0.009) and tended to reduce loin depth (7.0 vs 6.8 cm; P=0.057) compared to CTL. Diet did not affect backfat depth or lean percentage (P &gt;0.10). In conclusion, diets naturally contaminated with multiple mycotoxins reduced growth performance and adversely affected carcass parameters; pigs did not adapt over time to the mycotoxins.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 1341
Author(s):  
Sarayu Bhogoju ◽  
Collins N. Khwatenge ◽  
Thyneice Taylor-Bowden ◽  
Gabriel Akerele ◽  
Boniface M. Kimathi ◽  
...  

There are well documented complications associated with the continuous use of antibiotics in the poultry industry. Over the past few decades, probiotics have emerged as viable alternatives to antibiotics; however, most of these candidate probiotic microorganisms have not been fully evaluated for their effectiveness as potential probiotics for poultry. Recent evaluation of a metagenome of broiler chickens in our laboratory revealed a prevalence of Lactobacillus reuteri (L. reuteri) and Actinobacteria class of bacteria in their gastrointestinal tract. In this study Lactobacillus reuteri and Streptomyces coelicolor (S. coelicolor) were selected as probiotic bacteria, encapsulated, and added into broiler feed at a concentration of 100 mg/kg of feed. In an 8-week study, 240 one day-old chicks were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments. Three dietary treatments contained two probiotic bacteria in three different proportions (L. reuteri and S. coelicolor individually at 100 ppm, and mixture of L. reuteri and S. coelicolor at 50 ppm each). The fourth treatment had no probiotic bacteria and it functioned as the control diet. L. reuteri and S. coelicolor were added to the feed by using wheat middlings as a carrier at a concentration of 100 ppm (100 mg/kg). Chickens fed diets containing L. reuteri and S. coelicolor mixture showed 2% improvement in body weight gain, 7% decrease in feed consumption, and 6–7% decrease in feed conversion ratios. This research suggests that L. reuteri and S. coelicolor have the potential to constitute probiotics in chickens combined or separately, depending on the desired selection of performance index.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2092
Author(s):  
Jinsu Hong ◽  
Hee-Seong Kim ◽  
Sungho Do ◽  
Hong-Jun Kim ◽  
Sung-Won Kim ◽  
...  

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of lysine cell mass (LCM) as an alternative lysine source in diets for weaning pigs on growth performance, diarrhea incidence, and blood profiles. In experiment 1, a total of 200 weaning pigs, with an average body weight (BW) of 6.89 ± 1.04 kg, were allotted into one of five treatments with four replicates of 10 pigs per pen in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The dietary treatments were composed of LCM supplementation (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, or 1.0%) with partial replacement of L-lysine·HCl (0 to 0.8% for phase 1 diets and 0 to 0.07% for phase 2 diets). The BW and feed intake were recorded at the end of each phase (d 0 to 14 for phase 1, d 14 to 35 for phase 2), and diarrhea incidence was checked daily throughout the experimental period. Blood samples were taken from the jugular vein of pigs at 2 weeks and 5 weeks to determine the blood profiles of weaning pigs. In experiment 2, a total of 144 weaning pigs with an average BW of 6.44 ± 1.19 kg were allotted into one of six treatments with six replicates of four pigs per pen in RCBD. The dietary treatments were composed of LCM supplementation (0 to 3.5% for phase 1 diets and 0 to 2.2% for phase 2 diets) with replacement of L-lysine·HCl from 0 to 100%. In experiment 1, partial replacement of L-lysine·HCl with 0 to 1% LCM did not affect growth performance and diarrhea incidence of pigs. An increase in the LCM supplementation from 0 to 1% with partial replacement of L-lysine·HCl had no influence on the blood urea nitrogen concentrations, whereas it resulted in a linear decrease (p < 0.05) in the serum IgG concentrations for 5 weeks. In experiment 2, increasing the dietary level of LCM with replacement of L-lysine·HCl quadratically decreased (p < 0.05) ADG and G–F ratio for phase 2 and G–F ratio for the overall period such that 100% replacement of L-lysine·HCl with LCM decreased ADG and G–F ratio of weaning pigs. An increase in the LCM supplementation with replacement of L-lysine·HCl tended to decrease linearly (p < 0.10) the diarrhea incidence of weaning pigs for the overall period and linearly decrease (p < 0.05) the serum IgG concentrations for 2 weeks. In conclusion, partial replacement of L-lysine·HCl with LCM from 0 to 1% had no negative impacts on the growth performance, but 100% replacement of L-lysine·HCl with LCM decreased the growth performance of weaning pigs. Therefore, LCM could be included in the diets for weaning pigs up to 2.8% and 1.76% for phase 1 and phase 2, respectively, as a substitute for L-lysine·HCl without detrimental effects on the performance of weaning pigs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 101-102
Author(s):  
Kelsey L Batson ◽  
Hilda I Calderon Cartagena ◽  
Robert D Goodband ◽  
Jason C Woodworth ◽  
Mike D Tokach ◽  
...  

Abstract A total of 109 sows (Line 241; DNA, Columbus, NE) were used in a study to evaluate the effect of increasing phytase concentration in lactation diets on sow and litter performance. On d 107 of gestation, sows were blocked by body weight and parity and allotted to 1 of 3 dietary treatments of increasing phytase concentration (0, 1,000, or 3,000 FYT/kg; Ronozyme HiPhos 2700; DSM Nutritional Products, Inc., Parsippany, NJ). The control diet contained no phytase and was formulated to contain 0.50% standardized total tract digestible phosphorus (STTD P; 0.45% available P) and 0.62% STTD calcium (0.90% total Ca). The same STTD P and Ca concentrations were formulated for the phytase diets considering a release of 0.132 STTD P and 0.094 STTD Ca in both diets. Diets were fed from d 107 of gestation until weaning (d 18 ± 2). Litters were cross-fostered within treatment until 48 h post-farrowing to equalize litter size. Linear and quadratic response to phytase concentration was evaluated using the lmer function in R. There was no evidence for difference in sow body weight change, farrowing performance, wean-to-estrus interval, or litter size among dietary treatments. Sow average daily feed intake from farrowing to weaning tended to increase (linear, P=0.093) as phytase increased. Although not significant (linear, P =0.226), farrowing duration decreased as phytase increased. Litter weaning weight increased (quadratic, P=0.039) and overall litter gain increased (quadratic, P=0.047) with 1,000 FYT of phytase. In summary, sow feed intake tended to increase linearly with increasing phytase; however, feeding 1,000 FYT/kg maximized overall litter gain and weaning weight. This small-scale study suggests sow and litter performance benefits due to high inclusions of dietary phytase; however, a commercial trial with more sows is warranted to confirm these results.


Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 607
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Scarpa ◽  
Simona Tarricone ◽  
Marco Ragni

There is a growing demand by the modern consumer for meat containing less fat and lower levels of saturated fatty acids, which are considered to increase the risk of coronary heart disease. In southern Italy, the Gentile di Puglia breed is one of the most common on farms, and the light lambs are often consumed. The study evaluates the effect of a diet containing extruded linseed (Linum usitatissimum) on growth performances, carcass traits, and meat quality in Gentile di Puglia light lambs. Thirty-six male lambs are weaned at about 20 days of age, and divided into three groups—each group is either fed a control diet (C), a diet containing 3% extruded linseed (L), or a diet containing 3% extruded linseed and 0.6% oregano (Origanum vulgare) (L + O). The lambs’ growth performances and the slaughtering and dissection data did not differ between groups. Dietary treatments have no significant effect on the quality and chemical composition of Longissimus lumborum (Ll). The mount of linoleic acid in Ll meat is significantly higher in the L group, and this positively affected the total content of n-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid, as well as the n-6/n-3 ratio. The good results obtained concerning the sensory traits meet the requirements of the market’s consumer.


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