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Researchers Look to Vitamin Supplementation to Displace Antibiotics and Zinc Oxide in Addressing Neonatal and Post-Weaning Diarrhea

Researchers with Agriculture And Agri-Food Canada are evaluating the potential of using supplemental vitamins administered to the sow to displace the use of antibiotics and zinc oxide in addressing neonatal diarrhea and post-weaning diarrhea in her piglets. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, in collaboration with CDPQ and the Western College of Veterinary Medicine, is examining the effects of providing supplemental dietary vitamins to the sow during gestation in combination with a commercial vaccine to stimulate production of maternal antibodies that can be passed to her piglets through her colostrum to provide immunity to neonatal diarrhea or post-weaning diarrhea.

Hannah Burlet, a graduate student with the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, explains the pressure to find alternative methods to protect piglets from diarrhea is mounting.

Quote-Hannah Burlet-Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada-Western College of Veterinary Medicine:

Vitamins were administered in the form of a standard vitamin premix distributed in feed, with the diets applied from just after artificial insemination until farrowing.We used two diets, the first a control diet based on NRC 2012 recommendations and the second, a high vitamin diet based on an average 50 percent increase of industry standard vitamin levels based on a 2016 study by Flohr et al.

Along with the vitamins, we administered appropriate doses of a commercial vaccine to stimulate maternal production of antibodies.This protocol was applied over two sequential gestational cycles to determine if there is any additive effect.We will compare antibody levels from blood serum at breeding, before and after vaccination, from colostrum and from piglet blood serum.We will also compare some performance measures like backfat thickness, piglets born alive, piglets weaned, and piglet weight gain to see if there is any difference on the whole animal level.

Burlet says she is currently analysing the sow and piglet performance data and she expects the main portion of the lab work to be competed by October.She plans to present findings during the upcoming Saskatchewan Pork Industry Symposium in November.

Source : Farmscape.ca

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World Pork Expo: Tackling oxidative stress at critical stages in swine production

Video: World Pork Expo: Tackling oxidative stress at critical stages in swine production

Dr. Marlin Hoogland, veterinarian and Director of Innovation and Research at Feedworks, speaks to The Pig Site's Sarah Mikesell just after World Pork Expo about how metabolic imbalance – especially during weaning, late gestation and disease outbreaks – can quietly undermine animal health and farm profitability.

In swine production, oxidative stress may be an invisible challenge, but its effects are far from subtle. From decreased feed efficiency to suppressed growth rates, it quietly chips away at productivity.

Dr. Hoogland says producers and veterinarians alike should be on alert for this metabolic imbalance, especially during the most physiologically demanding times in a pig’s life.