Abstract
Newly-weaned pigs (n = 450; age = 20 d) were used in a 40-d experiment to determine the effects of water quality on pig performance and health. Pigs were sourced from a single commercial sow farm that was negative for both Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome virus and Mycoplasma Pneumonia. Pigs were allotted randomly to 45 pens (10 pigs/pen) and pens were assigned to 1 of 3 water treatments that provided water of differing quality. Waters were selected to represent a wide range of perceived water quality. Water quality was determined based on concentration of analytes including sulfates (1,120; 617; 2 ppm), iron (5.4; 5.2; 1.3 ppm), Total Dissolved Solids (TDS; 1,500; 1,050; 348 ppm), hardness (1,410; 909; 235 mg Eq CaCO3/L), magnesium (171; 91; 21 ppm) and sodium (64; 37; 29 ppm) for waters A, B, and C, respectively. Pigs were housed in an environmentally controlled, power ventilated, confinement nursery barn and were allowed ad libitum access to a common three-phase diet and water across all water treatments. Weekly ADG, ADFI, and G:F were measured and subjective scour score (1=solid feces to 4=liquid feces) was recorded daily through day 7. Data for pig growth performance were analyzed using PROC GLIMMIX with water quality as a fixed effect and pen served as the experimental unit. There were no differences among treatments in ADG, ADFI, and G:F (Table 1). Number of pigs treated with antibiotics throughout the experiment did not differ among treatments as determined by Chi-Square analysis. Average subjective scour score on day 7 of the experiment also did not differ among treatments. In conclusion, performance and health of nursery pigs as measured in this experiment were not influenced by the differing water qualities studied.
Influence of Mycoplasma pneumonia on the course of chronic hypertrophic rhinitis
