• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.237-243
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• 2004

The objective of this study was to evaluate Solpro500 (a wheat hydrolysate containing a high level of glutamine) as a replacement for spray dried porcine plasma (SDPP) in diets fed to nursery pigs. One hundred and eight pigs (Dalland, $5.39{\pm}0.80$ kg BW) weaned at 21 days were assigned to one of three treatment groups for a 28 day feeding trial. The experimental diets were based on corn and soybean meal and were supplemented with either 8% SDPP, 4% SDPP plus 4% Solpro500 or 8% Solpro500. Each treatment was fed to six pens with six pigs per pen (4 barrows and 2 gilts). The experimental results indicated no significant difference (p>0.05) in daily gain, feed intake or feed efficiency for pigs fed the three experimental diets. However, the diarrhea index for pigs fed either 4% SDPP and 4% Solpro500 or 8% Solpro500 was lower (p<0.05) than that for pigs fed 8% SDPP. No differences (p>0.05) were found in the apparent fecal digestibility of dry matter, organic matter or crude protein between pigs fed the three diets. The intestinal morphology (villous height, villous width and crypt depth) was not affected by diet treatments (p>0.05). In conclusion, Solpro500 SDPP can replace SDPP without any negative effects on nursery pig performance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.280-287
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• 2001

These studies aimed to determine how lighting might be used to improve feed intake and reduce aggressive behavior in newly weaned pigs. To examine whether this objective could be achieved an experiment was conducted to compare performance, behavior and body condition of weaners over 17-45 days, provided similar lighting quality (i.e. color temperature, color rendering index and lighting distribution) after weaning that piglets experienced prior to weaning. Triphosphor (TP) lighting to simulate daylight was provided during the day while at night, Pascal red (PR) lighting was provided to simulate the night-light piglets previously had received from infrared heating lamps. This treatment was compared to weaners provided conventional cool-white fluorescent light during the day only. Weaners on treatment lighting from 17-45 days of age showed no improvement in body weight or feed conversion at 24, 31, 38 and 45 days compared to the controls. There was, however, a significant improvement (p<0.05) in feed intake in the first week of weaning for weaners provided TP/PR lighting. Over the first 3 days of weaning, pigs on TP/PR lighting showed an increase (p<0.05) in the incidence of ear chewing but reduced (p<0.05) levels of nosing the abdomen of other pigs and reduced (p<0.05) occurrences of being stood on by other pigs. Females exhibited more (p<0.05) mounting and nosing behaviors and rubbing the heads of other pigs than males. On the other hand, males engaged in more (p<0.05) fighting, nipping, ear chewing and standing on other pigs compared to females. Pigs provided PR lighting on the first night of weaning engaged in higher (p<0.05) incidences of nosing and tail sucking behaviors, more (p<0.05) head thrusting, fighting and ear chewing compared to control pigs. The body condition of weaners provided the TP/PR lighting treatment was significantly poorer (p<0.05) compared to weaners on control lighting. In conclusion there was no improvement in production performance of weaners provided new technology lighting apart from the improvement in feed intake in the first week weaners were exposed to the TP/PR lighting.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.180-185
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• 1999

Effects of host immunization on bacterial translocation and growth performance in weanling piglets were studied. Twenty four barrows were assigned to one of two immunization treatments: Control group (CON: immunized with placebo) or Immunization group [IMMU: immunized with Antigen cocktail; Keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH), Ovalbumin (OA), and Tetanus toxoid (TT)]. On d0, piglets were weaned and intramuscularly immunized with 2 ml of placebo or Antigen cocktail, respectively. Antigen-specific Ig titers were determined by ELISA (Enzyme Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay). Ig titers to E. coli-derived lipopolysaccharides (LPS) were measured as the indicator of bacterial translocation. Ig titers to LPS were higher (p<0.10, 0.05 or 0.01) in CON group before immunization (d0), but the difference disappeared with time and IgA titers to LPS became higher (p<0.05) in IMMU group on d39. In IMMU group, IgG titers to LPS from d28 onwards showed positive correlations (p<0.10, 0.05, 0.01 or 0.001) with IgG titers to KLH from d11 onwards and with IgM titers to KLH from d7 onwards. Generally, growth performance was negatively related to IgG titers to LPS. Average daily gain for d28 to d35 showed negative correlations (p<0.10, 0.05, or 0.01) with IgG titers to LPS on d28 onwards in immunization group. These results reveal some evidences that host immunization might facilitate bacterial translocation and high humoral immune responses to LPS are negatively related with the growth performance.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.7
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• pp.1003-1010
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• 2005

A study consisting of 3 trials was designed to assess the relative biological efficacy of DL-methionine (DL-Met) in comparison to liquid methionine hydroxy analogue (MHA-FA) in growing pigs. In trial I a basal diet was supplemented with three graded levels of DL-methionine (0.25, 0.50 and 0.75 g/kg) or liquid MHA-FA (0.0285, 0.0570 and 0.0855 g/kg) on equimolar basis. The basal diet contained 18.3% CP, 0.22% Met and 0.51% Met+Cys, which is below the methionine requirement for weaned pigs between 10 and 20 kg BW according to NRC (1998) but adequate in all other essential nutrients and energy. Using an exponential model, the efficacy of the two methionine sources was estimated from nitrogen retention data obtained in 42 piglets with an initial BW between 11.0 kg (Exp. 1) and 11.7 kg (Exp. 2). In trials II and III, with a total of 192 and 96 pigs, and with an initial BW of 10.6 and 21 kg, respectively, growth response criteria were assessed to determine if in agreement with previous studies in pigs and poultry a biological effectiveness of about 65% on average could be confirmed for liquid MHA-FA in comparison to DL-met. Based on N-retention (trial I) the biological efficacy of liquid MHA-FA on a weight-to-weight basis was calculated to be 62% relative to DL-met. Basically, these results were confirmed using growth response criteria as measures; the results of trial II and III revealed no significant differences in growth performance and feed conversion between treatments indicating that 100 parts of liquid MHA-FA can be replaced by 65 parts of DL-met.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.12
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• pp.1903-1911
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• 2021

Objective: The objective of this study was to estimate the genetic parameters and various litter trait trends of Danish pigs in South Vietnam, including the number born alive (NBA), number weaned (NW), and litter weight at the 21st day (LW21). Methods: Records of 936 Yorkshire sows with 3361 litters and 973 Landrace sows with 3161 litters were used to estimate the variance components, genetic parameters, and trends of NBA, NW, and LW21. The restricted maximum likelihood method was applied using VCE6 software to obtain the variance components and genetic parameters. Thereafter, the best linear unbiased prediction procedure with an animal model was applied using PEST software to estimate the breeding values of the studied traits. Results: The heritability estimates were low, ranging from 0.12 to 0.21 for NBA, 0.03 to 0.04 for NW, and from 0.11 to 0.13 for LW21. The genetic correlation between the NBA and NW was relatively strong in both breeds, at 0.77 and 0.60 for Yorkshire and Landrace, respectively. Similarly, the genetic correlation between the NW and LW21 was considerably stronger in Landrace pigs (0.71) than in Yorkshire pigs (0.48). The estimates of annual genetic progress were 0.0431, 0.0233, and 0.0461 for NBA, NW, and LW21 in Landrace pigs and 0434, 0.0202, and 0.0667 for NBA, NW, and LW21 in Yorkshire pigs, respectively. Conclusion: The positive genetic trends estimated for the additive genetic values of the selected traits indicated that the current breeding system has achieved favorable results.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.501-509
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• 2021

The aim of this was evaluate the efficacy of lysozyme on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, excreta microflora population, and blood profiles of weanling pigs under Escherichia coli (E. coli) challenge. A total of 30 piglets weaned at 25 days, 7.46 kg body weight, were assigned to three dietary treatments, composed of five replications, two piglets per replication, for 7 days. The dietary treatment groups were negative control (NC; without antibiotics and lysozyme), positive control (PC; NC + antibiotics), lysozyme (NC + 0.1% lysozyme). All piglets were challenged orally with 6 ml suspension, containing E. coli K88 (2 × 10⁹ CFU/mL). Dietary supplementation with lysozyme and PC resulted in no significant differences in average daily gain and gain to feed efficiency. Weanling pigs fed with E. coli challenge with lysozyme and PC treatments had significantly enhanced nutrient retentions of dry matter and energy (p < 0.05); however, there was a tendency to increase nitrogen digestibility. Furthermore, dietary inclusion of lysozyme and antibiotics treatment groups had a beneficial effect on excreta, ileal, and cecal of the fecal microbial population as decreased E. coli (p < 0.05) counts, without effects on lactobacillus counts. A significant effect were observed on a white blood cells, epinephrine and cortisol concentrations were reduced in piglets fed diets containing E. coli challenge with lysozyme and antibiotics supplementation comparison with the NC group. Therefore, the present data indicate that lysozyme in diet could ameliorate the experimental stress response induced by E. coli in piglets by decreasing intestinal E. coli, white blood cells and stress hormones and improving nutrient digestibility.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1189-1195
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• 2008

A study was conducted with 48 weaned barrows ($28{\pm}3d$, $8.45{\pm}0.14kg$) to determine the effect of Achyranthes bidentata polysaccharide (ABPS) supplementation on pig performance, immunological, adrenal and somatotropic responses following Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide (LPS) challenge. The experiment was a $2{\times}2$ factorial design; the main factors included diet (supplementation with 0 or 500 mg/kg ABPS) and immunological challenge (LPS or saline). On d 14 and 21 of the trial, pigs were given an intraperitoneal injection with either $100{\mu}g/kg$ BW of LPS or an equivalent amount of sterile saline. Blood samples were obtained 3 h after injection for analysis of tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$), prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$), cortisol, growth hormone (GH), insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-I and immunoglobulin G (IgG). On d 2 after LPS challenge, peripheral blood lymphocyte proliferation (PBLP) was measured. LPS administration decreased average daily feed intake (ADFI) (p<0.05), had a tendency to decrease average daily gain (ADG) (p<0.10) during both the first and second challenge periods and increased (p<0.05) feed:gain ratio only during the first challenge period. ABPS tended to improve ADG (p<0.10) during the first challenge period, and improved ADG (p<0.05) and tended to improve ADFI (p<0.10) during the second challenge period. ABPS did not affect feed:gain ratio. An interaction (p<0.05) between LPS challenge and diet was observed for the plasma concentrations of TNF-${\alpha}$, $PGE_2$ and cortisol after both LPS challenges such that, among LPS-treated pigs, pigs fed the ABPS diet were lower for these indices than those receiving the control diet. In contrast, pigs fed the ABPS diet had higher IGF-I (p<0.05) compared with those fed the control diet. No effect of diet, LPS challenge or both on GH and IgG was observed after both LPS administrations. LPS challenge increased PBLP when these cells were incubated with $8{\mu}g/ml$ of LPS during both the challenge periods, and did likewise when incubated with $8{\mu}g/ml$ of concanavalin A only after the first challenge. ABPS had no effect on PBLP. These data demonstrate that ABPS alters the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines following an immunological challenge, which might enable pigs to achieve better performance.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.99-108
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• 2010

The principal objective of this study was to investigate the cooling effects of geothermal heat pump system (GHPS) in farrowing house. A total of 96 sows were allocated to 2 pig housings (GHPS and conventional housing) with 48 for four weeks in summer season. During the experimental period of four weeks, the highest outside temperature observed was approximately $34.1^{\circ}C$, GHPS decrease indoor temperature of pig housing up to $30.9^{\circ}C$, but conventional pig housing was similar to outside temperature. Dust concentrations (maximum 61.4%) of particulate matter less than $10{\mu}m$ (PM 10) in GHPS-housing were lower than the conventional housing. GHPS showed no signigicant difference in carbon dioxide emission, whereas the ammonia gas concentration was significantly decreased in GHPS-housing compared to that of conventional housing. Sows in GHPS-housing showed significantly lower respiratory rate than those of the control group. GHPS did not affect hormone level, litter size and birth weight, but weaning weight of piglets was influenced by GHPS. Feed consumption of sows was significantly increased in GHPS-housing compared to the conventional hosing. These results suggest that GHPS decrease dust concentration, ammonia gas emission and indoor temperature of pig housing and may affect performance in sows and weaned piglets.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.1-12
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• 2001

This study was conducted to develope an automatic liquid feeder for early weaning piglets and to test the efficacy of the system. The liquid feeder consists of water heating and discharge unit, dry diet storing and discharge unit, mixing and discharge unit, mixed liquid feed-delivering unit, and the central control part which control each unit, feeding frequency and the amount of feeding. For investigating the possibility of practical use, a feeding trial was carried out using eighteen three way crossbred piglets weaned on 19 days of age for the experimental period of six weeks. Experimental diet was provided in liquid form using the automatic liquid feeder for the first three weeks and in dry form for the later three weeks. The water heating and discharge unit exactly supplied warm water by 27 $m\ell$/s, into the mixing unit. The dry diet storing and discharge unit supplied dry feed by 3.7g/s, into the mixing unit. Being compared with the standard growth rate suggested by NRC, average daily gain of the piglets during the first three weeks of liquid feeding was lower by 10%, while it was higher during three weeks of dry feeding and over the whole experimental period by 24 and 17%, respectively. Feed/gain was 1.09, 2.14 and 1.89 for the first 3 weeks, later 3 weeks, and whole period, respectively. Diarrhea was observed for three days from day 3 to day 7 after feeding liquid diet, but no pig died of it. In conclusion, a preliminary test for the newly developed an automatic liquid feeder using 19 days of age weaning piglets showed that the unit was successfully operated without any major problems. Piglets raised on a liquid diet through the unit developed grew less during the first three weeks, but their growth and feed intake were greatly improved thereafter, indicating the developed automatic liquid feeder may be practically used in swine industry.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.686-695
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• 2018

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary choline supplementation on hepatic lipid metabolism and gene expression in finishing pigs with intrauterine growth retardation (IUGR). Methods: Using a $2{\times}2$ factorial design, eight normal birth weight (NBW) and eight IUGR weaned pigs were fed either a basal diet (NBW pigs fed a basal diet, NC; IUGR pigs fed a basal diet, IC) or a diet supplemented with two times more choline than the basal diet (NBW pigs fed a high-choline diet, NH; IUGR pigs fed a high-choline diet, IH) until 200 d of age. Results: The results showed that the IUGR pigs had reduced body weight compared with the NBW pigs (p<0.05 from birth to d 120; p = 0.07 from d 120 to 200). Increased (p<0.05) free fatty acid (FFA) and triglyceride levels were observed in the IUGR pigs compared with the NBW pigs. Choline supplementation decreased (p<0.05) the levels of FFAs and triglycerides in the serum of the pigs. The activities of malate dehydrogenase and glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase were both increased (p<0.05) in the livers of the IUGR pigs. Choline supplementation decreased (p<0.05) malate dehydrogenase activity in the liver of the pigs. Gene expression of fatty acid synthase (FAS) was higher (p<0.05) in the IC group than in the other groups, and choline supplementation decreased (p<0.05) FAS and acetyl-CoA carboxylase ${\alpha}$ expression in the livers of the IUGR pigs. The expression of carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1A (CPT1A) was lower (p<0.05) in the IC group than in the other groups, and choline supplementation increased (p<0.05) the expression of CPT1A in the liver of the IUGR pigs and decreased (p<0.01) the expression of hormone-sensitive lipase in both types of pigs. The gene expression of phosphatidylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PEMT) was higher (p<0.05) in the IC group than in the other groups, and choline supplementation significantly reduced (p<0.05) PEMT expression in the liver of the IUGR pigs. Conclusion: In conclusion, the lipid metabolism was abnormal in IUGR pigs, but the IUGR pigs consuming twice the normal level of choline had improved circulating lipid parameters, which could be related to the decreased activity of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-generating enzymes or the altered expressions of lipid metabolism-related genes.