Seminar 1

2011 Fast Track

Probiotics limit the severity of post weaning diarrhoea

Larissa Beale

About me

• Graduated Bach App. Sci. (1st class Hons) from Uni QLD

• Interest is in developing new strategies to help combat disease and improve animal husbandry

Background

• PWD causes significant loss to producers

• A multi factorial disease with ETEC playing a major role

• Past prevention regimes relied on antimicrobials

• Decreased effectiveness of antimicrobial based techniques due to resistance

• Increased need for alternative management strategies

Probiotic design

• E. coli formula tailor made to be effective against O141, O149 and O157

• Screened over 25 000 E. coli sourced from different pig samples

• Tested for their antagonism, survivability and safety

Project aim

• Test the efficacy of an E. coli probiotic formula to help combat ETEC associated PWD

Experimental design

• 12 gilts and their offspring– 6 probiotic supplement and 6 control

Betty

Flow of water

Control gilts Probiotic treated gilts

Blocked Door

Access Door

Experimental design

• 12 gilts and their offspring– 6 probiotic supplement and 6 control

• Dosage rate of 1x109 CFU E. coli probiotic formula (in a dextrose base)

• Dextrose base only (control/placebo)

• Given orally via syringe

Betty

• Probiotic or placebo received orally at birth, 5 days of age and the day prior to weaning

• 60 piglets randomly allocated to challenge group

• ETEC (5x109 CFU) challenge received orally at weaning for 3 consecutive days

Blocked Door

Access Door

Hospital Pen

Challenge Room

Flow of water

Record keeping

• Individual faecal consistency was recorded daily for 4 days after weaning

• Scores 1 or 2 were considered as ‘normal’ and 3 – 5 as ‘scouring’

Faecal consistency scores

1 – Dry, pelleted faeces

2 – Moulded faeces

3 – Moist, cow dung appearance

4 – Diarrhoea

5 – Watery diarrhoea

Results• Record of every faecal consistency score

• Control animals had fewer scores of 1 and more at 5

• Majority probiotic animals had scores of 2

Faecal S

core

Days post-weaning

Scouring

Not Scouring

• All the consistency scores were added and averaged for each animal

• Average faecal consistency for probiotic supplemented animals was not a scouring level

45% 3%97%55%

Commercial significance

• The E. coli probiotic successfully reduced the severity and duration of PWD

• Currently being tested under commercial conditions at a number of sites

Acknowledgements

• Co authors: H.J.M Brouwers, B. Turner, D. Jordan, R. Al Jassim and T.A. Chapman

• Pork CRC, International Animal Health Products

• EMAI staff and students

Seminar 2

2011 Fast Track

Effect of dietary nano chromium picolinate on growth carcass

characteristics, and insulin sensitivity in pigs

Supervisors: Prof. Frank Dunshea, Assoc. Prof. Brian Leury, Dr. Matthew Sabin

Tsung-Yu Hung (Alex)

• B. Animal science-Chinese Culture University (Taiwan)

• Animal nutrition specialist. Swine feed & nutrition Division –Great Wall Enterprise CO. LTD. (Taiwan)

• M. Phil (Animal Feed &Nutrition)-National Chiayi University (Taiwan)

• Research assistant /Laboratory manager- Animal Nutrition Lab. Department of Animal science. National Chiayi University. (Taiwan)

• PhD (Animal production)-Melbourne University

Personal background

Benefit of Cr in farm animals

• Growth performance - ADG ↑ (average daily weight gain )

- FCR ↑ (Feed conversion rate)

• Carcass trait - P2 backfat ↓

- longissimus muscle ↑

• Meat quality - marbling scores ↑

- water holding capacity ↑

• Stress

• Poor absorption of Cr - 0.5 to 3% inorganic form of Cr can be absorbed

-< 20% organic form of Cr can be absorbed

Why Nano Cr?

What is nano?

10-9 or 1/1,000,000,000.

Prolong compound residence time

Increase surface area

Improve solubility

Why Nano size particle can improve the absorption of nutrient

Net change (kg/day) P-value

Con vs Nano 0.03 (n=8) 0.02

Con vs Normal 0.001 (n=6) 0.63

Normal vs Nano 0.04 (n=6) <0.01

Net change of ADG (kg/day)

-0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4

Wang & Xu (2004)

Wang et. al. (2007)

Wang et. al. (2009a)

Wang et. al (2009b)

Hung et. al (2009) (low fat)

Hung et. al (2009) (high fat)

Li & Lien (2010) (CrPic)

Li & Lien (2010) (CrCl)

NanoNormalNet change in ADG

Nano-Cr Nano-Cr increases ADGincreases ADG

(Hung et al. 2010)

Net change (feed/gain) P-value

Con vs Nano -0.086 (n=8) <0.01

Con vs Normal -0.015 (n=6) 0.17

Normal vs Nano -0.005 (n=6) 0.73

Net change of FCR (feed/gain)

-0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3

Wang & Xu (2004)

Wang et. al. (2007)

Wang et. al. (2009a)

Wang et. al (2009b)

Hung et. al (2009) (low fat)

Hung et. al (2009) (high fat)

Li & Lien (2010) (CrPic)

Li & Lien (2010) (CrCl)

Nano NormalNet change in

FCR

Nano-Cr improves Nano-Cr improves FCRFCR

(Hung et al. 2010)

Net change (cm) P-value

Con vs Nano -0.049 (n=7) 0.02

Con vs Normal -0.01 (n=5) <0.01

Normal vs Nano -0.01 (n=5) 0.57

Net change of backfat (cm)

-0.7 -0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0.0

Wang & Xu (2004)

Wang et. al. (2007)

Wang et. al (2009b)

Hung et. al (2009) (low fat)

Hung et. al (2009) (high fat)

Li & Lien (2010) (CrPic)

Li & Lien (2010) (CrCl)

Nano Normal

Net change in backfat

Nano-Cr decreases Nano-Cr decreases backfatbackfat

(Hung et al. 2010)

Digestibility of nano-Cr in pig

control CrCl3 Nano-CrCl3 CrPic Nano-CrPic

%

30

40

50

60

31.1%

10.7%

Nano Cr improved Cr digestibility

(Li & Lien 2010)

Nano-Cr Increases Nano-Cr Increases digestibility of Crdigestibility of Cr

Cr picolinate

1st stage2.0 mm grinding bead

NanoCr (< 100 nm)2nd stage0.3 mm grinding bead

Micro Cr (<20 μm)

Preparation of nano-Cr

Normal Cr (<1mm)

SEM image of nano-Cr

50 μM

50 μM

ab

a ab

HF vs. LF (P<O.05)Control vs. Cr (P<0.05)

Nano-Cr improve ADG

kg

P2 backfat Control vs. Cr (P<0.01)

mm

bab

a a

Carcass weightControl vs. Cr (P<0.01)

kg

bab ab

a

b

abab

a

Muscle depthControl vs. Cr (P<0.05)Control vs. Cr on HF diet (P<0.05)

Nano-Cr decreases P2 backfat and increase carcass weight and muscle depth

Control vs. Cr (P<0.05)

Nano-Cr improves insulin sensitivity

Nano Cr up-regulated adiponectin mRNA expression in adipose tissue

Nano-Cr improved Insulin signaling gene expression in muscle

Conclusion

• Dietary nano-CrPic supplementation can increase ADG, carcass weight, and reduce P2 backfat.

• Dietary nano-CrPic supplementation can improve insulin sensitivity by increasing insulin signaling gene expression.

Acknowledgements

Seminar 3

2011 Fast Track

Determining the lysine requirements of pigs immunised

against GnRF

Karen Moore

WA Dept. of Agriculture & Food

Boar taint

• Entire male production

• Urine or perspiration odour/flavour

• Boar taint compounds - androstenone and skatole

• Significant cause of consumer complaints

• Sensitivity to boar taint increasing

2011

D’Souza et al. 2011

Eliminating boar taint

• Castration is the only effective method

– Physical – perceived welfare issues

– Immunological (Improvac®)• Used by at least 25% of Australian industry• Nearly 60 countries worldwide

– Brazil, China, USA and Canada

Improvac blocks the reproductive hormones

Pituitary

No LH & FSH

Androstenone decreases

Skatole decreases

Testes

XHypothalamus anti-GnRFGnRF

0.0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5

Androstenone (µg/g fat)

Ska

tole

(µ

g/g

fat)

Entire

Improvac

Improvac® - no more boar taint

Dunshea et al. (unpublished)

(D’Souza et al., 1999)

Castration and Eating Quality

Boars Improvac® Castrates

Aroma 56a 62b 62b

Flavour 58 66 62

Tenderness 52a 62b 59b

Juiciness 60 64 59

Overall acceptability

58a 67b 62a

0 = dislike extremely; 100 = like extremely

• Production of immunised males is associated with

• Deterioration in feed conversion• Increased P2

• No published work on lysine requirements.• It can have a big influence on cost of diets and

hence profitability• It can have a big impact on growth and carcass

quality if it is not correct• All other amino acids are supplied as a ratio to

lysine

But…..

Aims

• To determine the available lysine/MJ digestible energy ratio of immunised males and how this compares with entire males

• To determine how the lysine requirement changes after the second vaccination

Daily gain

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Available lysine:DE

Dai

ly g

ain

(kg

/day

)

Entire males

Immunised males

60 to 108 kg LW

Average:Entires – 1.09

Immuno – 1.20

Moore et al. (unpublished)

2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3.0

3.2

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Available lysine:DE

Fe

ed

:Ga

in

Entire males

Immunised males

Feed to gain

60 to 108 kg LW

Average:Entires – 2.51

Immuno – 2.58

Moore et al. (unpublished)

Feed intake

2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

3.0

3.2

3.4

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Available lysine:DE

Fee

d i

nta

ke (

kg/d

ay)

Entire males

Immunised males

60 to 108 kg LWMoore et al. (unpublished)

Backfat

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8

Available lysine:DE

P2

(mm

)

Entire males

Immunised males

Moore et al. (unpublished)

Summary

• Immunised males vs. entire males

• Increased daily gain• Increased feed intake• Increased feed to gain• Lower Av Lys:DE requirement• Increased backfat• Increased carcase weight• Lower dressing percentage

Established and supported under the Australian

Government’s Cooperative Research Centres Program

Feed intake over time

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

7 14 21 28 35 42

Days after vaccination

Fe

ed

inta

ke

(k

g/d

ay

)

Entire males

Immunisedmales

Moore et al. (unpublished)

Daily gain over time

0.7

0.8

0.9

1.0

1.1

1.2

1.3

1.4

7 14 21 28 35 42

Days after vaccination

Dai

ly g

ain

(kg/

day)

Entire male

Immunised male

Moore et al. (unpublished)

Feed to gain over time

2.02.12.22.32.42.52.62.72.82.93.0

7 14 21 28 35 42

Days after vaccination

Fee

d:G

ain

Entire male

Immunised male

Moore et al. (unpublished)

What does this mean for you?

• Boar taint is still an issue– one method to effectively control it is the use of Improvac®

• Lysine requirements will be different depending on your situation

– these values provide a standard– talk to your nutritionist to determine optimum lysine

requirement for your genotype and environment

• Suggested feeding regime – feed as for entire males until at least 2 weeks after

vaccination when the lysine requirement can be decreased

Where to next?

• Investigate physiological and carcase composition changes that occur following the second vaccination of Improvac®

• Overall goal:– Identify management strategies that can be easily

implemented to minimise the increase in backfat and decrease in feed efficiency associated with the production of pigs immunised against GnRF