• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.14.1-14.10
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• 2020

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious disease of domestic pigs and wild boars (WBs). Without a vaccine, early antibody and antigen detection and rapid diagnosis are crucial for the effective prevention of the disease and the employment of control measures. In Sardinia, where 3 different suid populations coexisted closely for a long time, the disease persists since 1978. The recent ASF eradication plan involves more stringent measures to combat free-ranging pigs and any kind of illegality in the pig industry. However, critical issues such as the low level of hunter cooperation with veterinary services and the time required for ASF detection in the WBs killed during the hunting season still remain. Considering the need to deliver true ASF negative carcasses as early as possible, this study focuses on the evaluation and validation of a duplex pen-side test that simultaneously detects antibodies and antigens specific to ASF virus, to improve molecular diagnosis under field conditions. The main goal was to establish the specificity of the two pen-side tests performed simultaneously and to determine their ability to detect the true ASF negative carcasses among the hunted WBs. Blood and organ samples of the WBs hunted during the 2018/2019 hunting seasons were obtained. A total of 160 animals were tested using the pen-side kit test; samples were collected for virological and serological analyses. A specificity of 98% was observed considering the official laboratory tests as gold standards. The new diagnostic techniques could facilitate faster and cost-effective control of the disease.

• Journal of Veterinary Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.68.1-68.8
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• 2020

A fluorescent microsphere-based immunochromatographic strip test (FICT) was developed for the rapid, sensitive, and quantitative detection of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) antibodies at the pen-side. The assay was based on the formation of a sandwich immune-complex (anti-pig IgG-PRRSV antibodies-NSP7/N), which was validated by a comparison with IDEXX-ELISA using 3325 clinical specimens. The diagnostic specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy of FICT were 97.28, 93.41, and 94.95%, respectively. FICT showed a good correlation with the virus neutralization assay. Overall, a promising pen-side diagnostic tool was developed for the rapid and quantitative detection of PRRSV antibodies within 15 min.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.463-469
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• 2005

An attempt was made to analyze the factors affecting mating performance of rams in pen mating systems. Due to many types of social interactions, mating performance of rams may decrease or increase. Six intact Muzaffarnagari rams were used and divided into three dominant subordinate pairs by food and ewe competition test. For dominant rams subordinate ram became competitor and vice versa. In the first experiment, ram was exposed to ewe but the competitor ram was kept outside the pen with the facility of visibility only. In the second experiment each ram was exposed to ewe along with the competitor ram and in third experiment ram was exposed to ewes (two) along with competitor ram in observation pen. Recordings of different mating and agonistic behaviour were done in all the experiments. It was found that subordinate ram's mating behaviour was inhibited by mere presence of a dominant ram out side without physical contact. However, when ram exposed to oestrus ewe(s) along with competitor ram, both dominant and subordinate rams spent much of their time in guarding activities instead of mating. In addition dominant ram tried to curtail the subordinate ram mating by agonistic interaction like fight and butting. Different guarding activities were observed either as active or passive type depending on level of dominanace. It was concluded that in a limited space the interaction of two or more rams might affect the number of services adversely.

• Journal of Animal Environmental Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.41-50
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• 2010

The goal of this study was to develop a suitable ventilation system for high-rise hog building (HRHB) for growing-fattening with combined slatted floor pen in second story and in situ manure management system in Korea. The HRHB was constructed as 29m long, 9m wide and 7.6m high for outer dimension with an indoor height of 3.1m and 2.4 for lower and upper floor, respectively. Ventilation systems for each treatment were installed in separated rooms of HRHB. The ventilation types installed in each room were following 3 types: ventilation type 1 (V1), where air was pulled through a circular duct inlet and exhausted by fans; ventilation type 2 (V2), where air was pulled through eave inlet (side ceiling inlet) and exhausted by fans; and ventilation type 3 (V3), where air was pulled through baffled ceiling inlet and exhausted by fans. For each ventilation system, investigated air velocity under minimum, medium and maximum ventilation ratio and air flow pattern inside. The results were as follows; For air flow pattern from top to bottom, V1 showed a homogeneous vertical type, V2 showed a bilateral symmetry type and V3 showed an vertical umbrella type. Under minimum ventilation ratio, air velocity in upper floor (80cm above the slated floor) was similar for V1, V2, and V3. Under maximum ventilation ratio, air velocity in upper floor was undeviating for V1 (0.10~0.26m/s) and varied for V2 (0.12~0.63m/s) while those for V3 was relatively slow and less varied (0.07~0.15m/s). In conclusion, Duct inlet type (V1) can be applied to the development of a new HRHB with additional evaluations such as field test hog feeding.