scholarly journals MINERAL-DEFICIENT DIETS AND THE PIG'S ATTRACTION TO BLOOD: IMPLICATIONS FOR TAIL-BITING

1987 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 909-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID FRASER

In two experiments, individually penned growing pigs were exposed daily to two "tail models" (lengths of cotton cord about the size of a pig's tail), one of which had been impregnated with pigs' blood. When fed a balanced "control" diet, the pigs chewed significantly more on the blood-covered model than on the plain one, but with large individual differences between animals. Four weeks of receiving a diet lacking all mineral supplements (iodized salt, dicalcium phosphate, limestone, iron, zinc, manganese, copper, and selenium) caused a pronounced increase in chewing the blood-covered model, and 4 wk of recovery on the control diet reduced, but did not completely eliminate, the enhanced attraction to blood. In a second experiment, a similar heightened response to blood was produced by omitting only iodized salt from the diet, whereas omission of all other mineral supplements led to a much smaller and statistically non-significant change. Although the causes of tail-biting are undoubtedly complex, the results suggest that heightened appetite for salt could make pigs particularly attracted to pen-mates with injured tails. Key words: Pigs, tail-biting, abnormal behavior, salt, sodium, mineral deficiency

Animals ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Grazia Pastorelli ◽  
Valentina Serra ◽  
Lauretta Turin ◽  
Veronica Redaelli ◽  
Fabio Luzi ◽  
...  

Tail docking has been used in the pig industry to decrease the occurrence of tail biting behavior. This abnormal behavior has a multifactorial origin since it is a response to simultaneous environmental, nutritional and management changes. Given the calming properties of Passiflora incarnata, we hypothesized that dietary supplementation with the extract in weaned pigs could result in a modification of behavior and physiologic indicators linked to stress. Weaned piglets (n = 120, mean body weight 9.07 ± 2.30 kg) were randomly allocated to one of two dietary treatments: control diet (CON) and CON supplemented with 1 kg/t of P. incarnata (PAS). The trial was 28 days long. The presence of skin lesions was assessed at d-1, d-10, d-19, and d-28, and saliva samples were collected for IgA and cortisol determinations at the same sampling times. Results showed the PAS group was characterized by equal growth performance as the CON group, fewer ear lesions (p < 0.05), less aggressive behavior (p < 0.001), higher enrichment exploration (p < 0.001) and lower cortisol levels (p < 0.01). Time effect was observed for tail lesions (p < 0.001) and behavioral observations (p < 0.001). Additional research is required to determine the effect of P. incarnata extract using a larger number of animals and longer period of supplementation when risks associated with tail biting are uncontrolled.


1991 ◽  
Vol 71 (3) ◽  
pp. 611-619 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Fraser ◽  
D. E. Bernon ◽  
R. O. Ball

In two experiments, 60 individually penned growing pigs were exposed daily to two sections of cotton cord, one of which had been soaked with pigs' blood and subsequently dried, while the other was plain. The animals' preference for chewing on the blood-impregnated cord was quantified by direct observation. When fed a standard "control" diet of corn, barley, and soybean meal with mineral and vitamin supplements, the pigs had a clear but modest preference for chewing the blood-impregnated cord. Omission of the protein supplement (soybean meal) from the diet for 4 wk led to a major increase in attraction to blood and a significant reduction in body weight gain. In the second experiment, supplementation of this "negative" diet with (a) synthetic lysine, or (b) synthetic lysine and other synthetic amino acids, led to weight gains that were intermediate between those seen with the control and negative diets. Attraction to blood was also intermediate on average, although not significantly lower than that seen with the negative diet. Pigs on the diets supplemented with amino acids had highly variable weight gains. Those that gained as rapidly as the controls had relatively low attraction to blood, while those showing clear depression of gain tended to (but did not always) have enhanced attraction to blood. It is hypothesized that the depression of growth caused by inadequate protein nutrition predisposed the animals to enhanced attraction to blood, and that such a relationship may help to explain the widely reported link between dietary inadequacies and tail-biting. Key words: Pigs, tail-biting, abnormal behavior, amino acids, protein, weight gain, growth


2001 ◽  
Vol 2001 ◽  
pp. OC3-OC3 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. McIntyre ◽  
V.E. Beattie ◽  
K. Breuer ◽  
S.A. Edwards

Tail biting is a widespread adverse behaviour that occurs in growing pigs but, as of yet, no one knows what initially encourages the development of this behavioural problem. It has been suggested that tail biting is linked to a behavioural predisposition, exacerbated by environmental inadequacy, or a nutritional deficiency such as inadequate protein or minerals. Using a model tail test, Fraser (1987, 1991) demonstrated an experimental link between mineral or protein dietary deficiencies and an increased attraction to blood. Using this test, Fraser demonstrated that large individual variation exists between pigs in the extent of their attraction to blood. The current experiment extended this tail test to investigate the nature of the attraction to blood, and to examine factors that may be related to tail biting predisposition.


ZOOTEC ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
Alfred Tamawiwy ◽  
M. Najoan ◽  
J S Mandey ◽  
F. N Sompie

ABSTRACT   EFFECT OF UTILIZATION OF VIRGIN COCONUT OIL (VCO) IN THE DIET ON PIG PERFORMANCE. Utilization of fats and oils in pig diets is of great importance due to their high energy value. VCO is obtained by cold press processing of the kernel from the coconut fruit. Utilization of virgin coconut oil (VCO) in the diets on pig performance.  The present study was designed to elaborate the effect of utilization of VCO in the diets on energy and protein digestibility of growing pigs. The experiment was conducted using 20 castrated male pigs aged 1.5 - 2.0 months weighing 12,0±2,0 kg. The data were analyzed according to the linear model procedure for ANOVA appropriate for Randomized Block Design with 5 treatments and 4 replications. Treatments were formulated as follow: R0 = 100% control diet + 0% VCO; R1 = 99.5% control diet + 1.0% VCO; R2 = 98.0% control diet + 2.0% VCO; R3 = 97.0% control diet + 3.0% VCO; and R4 = 96.0% control diet + 4.0% VCO. Parameters measured were: daily feed intake, daily gain, daily water consumption. The results showed that the utilization of VCO up to 4% in the diets had no significant effect (P > 0.05) on daily feed intake, daily gain, daily water consumption of pigs. It can be concluded that the addition of VCO up to 4.0% in the diets has no significant meaning on pig performance.   Key words: Virgin coconut oil (VCO), Performance, Growing pigs  


2020 ◽  
Vol 98 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. 30-31
Author(s):  
Brooke N Smith ◽  
Stephen A Fleming ◽  
Mei Wang ◽  
Ryan N Dilger

Abstract Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an economically-important disease and ingestion of soy isoflavones (ISF) may benefit PRRSV-infected pigs due to demonstrated anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties. The objective of this study was to quantify long-term effects of ISF consumption on fecal microbiome characteristics under disease challenge. In total, 96 weaned barrows were group-housed in a BSL-2 containment facility and allotted to 1 of 3 experimental treatments that were maintained throughout the wean-to-finish study: non-infected pigs receiving an ISF-devoid control diet (NC, n=24), and infected pigs receiving either the control diet (PC, n=36) or that supplemented with total ISF in excess of 1,600 mg/kg (ISF, n=36) (Table 1). Following a 7-day adaptation, pigs were inoculated intranasally with either a sham-control (PBS) or live PRRSV (1×105 TCID50/mL, strain NADC20). Fecal samples were collected from 48 individual pigs at pre-infection (-2 days post-inoculation, DPI), peak-infection (10 DPI), and post-infection (144 DPI) time-points and extracted DNA was used for 16S bacterial rRNA sequencing. Differences in bacterial communities among diet groups were evaluated using UniFrac distance matrices (weighted and unweighted) in QIIME. All other data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA performed on transformed data using R. Across all time-points, only minimal differences were observed due to ISF alone. At 10 DPI, PRRSV infection reduced Prevotella 9 genera abundance from approximately 20% to less than 10%, but the specific function of this variety in pigs is unclear. The most notable finding was decreased relative abundance of Actinobacteria at 144 DPI between non-infected and infected treatments (P &lt; 0.05), which is consistent with various dysbioses observed in other disease models. Our findings indicate that differences present were mainly due to PRRSV infection and not strongly influenced by ISF ingestion, which implies previously observed performance benefits conferred by dietary ISF are not likely due to changes in microbiome composition.


Perception ◽  
10.1068/p5304 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 34 (11) ◽  
pp. 1315-1324 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Farley Norman ◽  
Charles E Crabtree ◽  
Anna Marie Clayton ◽  
Hideko F Norman

The ability of observers to perceive distances and spatial relationships in outdoor environments was investigated in two experiments. In experiment 1, the observers adjusted triangular configurations to appear equilateral, while in experiment 2, they adjusted the depth of triangles to match their base width. The results of both experiments revealed that there are large individual differences in how observers perceive distances in outdoor settings. The observers' judgments were greatly affected by the particular task they were asked to perform. The observers who had shown no evidence of perceptual distortions in experiment 1 (with binocular vision) demonstrated large perceptual distortions in experiment 2 when the task was changed to match distances in depth to frontal distances perpendicular to the observers' line of sight. Considered as a whole, the results indicate that there is no single relationship between physical and perceived space that is consistent with observers' judgments of distances in ordinary outdoor contexts.


1992 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. A. Thacker ◽  
G. L. Campbell ◽  
J. W. D. GrootWassink

Two experiments of a factorial design (sex × treatment) were conducted to determine the effects of enzyme and salinomycin supplementation on the nutritive value of barley or rye-based diets for growing pigs fed from approximately 20 to 85 kg. For exp. 1, 72 crossbred pigs were fed either a barley-based control diet or a similar diet supplemented with enzyme (Aspergillus niger; 750 units g−1 beta-glucanase and 650 units g−1 pentosanase), salinomycin (25 ppm) or both additives in combination. For exp. 2, two replicates of 48 pigs were fed either a barley-based diet, an unsupplemented rye-based diet or a rye-based diet supplemented with enzyme, salinomycin or both additives. During both experiments, chromic oxide (0.5%) was added to the diet of four to six pigs/treatment to act as a digestibility indicator starting when the pigs reached 42 kg. Neither enzyme nor salinomycin, alone or in combination, significantly improved the growth rate or feed efficiency of pigs fed barley or rye. Supplementation of barley with the combination of additives significantly (P < 0.05) improved protein digestibility while neither enzyme nor salinomycin had any effect on nutrient digestibility when fed alone. In rye-based diets, salinomycin, both alone and in combination, significantly (P < 0.05) improved the digestibility of crude protein and energy. Dry matter digestibility of the rye-based diets was unaffected by treatment. Key words: Swine, rye, barley, beta-glucanase, pentosanase, salinomycin


2005 ◽  
Vol 101 (2) ◽  
pp. 487-497
Author(s):  
Yoshinori Nagasawa ◽  
Shinichi Demura

Present purposes were to examine the characteristics of controlled force exertion in 28 developmentally delayed young people (14 men, 14 women), and sex differences compared to 28 normal young students (14 men, 14 women). The subjects matched their submaximal grip strength to changing demand values displayed in a bar chart on the display of a personal computer. The total sum of the differences between the demand value and grip exertion value for 25 sec. was used as an evaluation parameter for the test. The controlled force exertion was significantly poorer for the developmentally delayed group than for controls, and there were large individual differences. The developmentally delayed men scored poorer than women in coordination. Like the controls, the means between trials did not decrease significantly. For these developmentally delayed subjects, performance did not improve after only a few trials. The controlled force-exertion test is useful as a voluntary movement-function test for developmentally delayed subjects.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 61-62
Author(s):  
Woongbi Bi Kwon ◽  
Jose A Soto ◽  
Hans H Stein

Abstract An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that addition of Val, Ile, or Trp alone or in combination will reduce the negative effects of excess Leu in diets for growing pigs. A total of 288 growing pigs (28.6 ± 2.5 kg) were randomly assigned to 1 of 9 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. There were 2 barrows and 2 gilts in each pen and 8 replicate pens per treatment. A control diet based on corn and soybean meal and 8 diets based on corn and a high-protein corn product (48% crude protein) with 2 levels of crystalline L-Val (0 or 0.10%), L-Ile (0 or 0.10%), and L-Trp (0 or 0.05%) were formulated. The crystalline L-Val, L-Ile, and L-Trp increased standardized ileal digestible (SID) Val:Lys from 70 to 80%, SID Ile:Lys from 53 to 63%, and SID Trp:Lys from 18 to 23%, respectively. All diets were formulated to contain 1.00% SID Lys and the 8 diets containing corn protein contained 171% SID Leu:Lys. Individual pig weights were recorded at the beginning and at the conclusion of the 28-d experiment. Data were analyzed using the PROC MIXED of SAS with a pen as the experimental unit. Diet was the fixed effect and block and replicate within block were random effects. Results indicated that final body weight and average daily gain were not different between pigs fed the control diet and pigs fed the diet with Val and Trp addition, but greater (P &lt; 0.001) than for pigs fed the diet with Val addition, Ile addition, Trp addition, Val and Ile addition, Ile and Trp addition, or Val, Ile, and Trp addition (Table 1). In conclusion, addition of Val and Trp to diets with excess Leu may prevent negative effects of excess Leu in diets for growing pigs.


Hypertension ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 60 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregor Guron ◽  
Lisa Nguy ◽  
Maria Johansson ◽  
Tom Teerlink

We have shown that rats with adenine-induced chronic renal failure (A-CRF) develop modest hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, and a marked decrease in aortic relaxation rate. The aim of this study was to investigate mechanisms causing hypertension in this model and to assess aortic stiffness by measuring aortic pulse wave velocity (PWV). Male Sprague-Dawley rats were equipped with radiotelemetry probes and subsequently received either chow containing adenine (0.5% for 3 weeks, 0.3% for 2 w., and 0.15% thereafter) or were pair-fed with a normal control diet. At 7 to 11 weeks blood pressure responses to high NaCl diet (4%) and pharmacological interventions were performed. In separate groups aortic PWV was analyzed in isoflurane-anesthetized animals. Values are means±SD. Baseline 24-h mean arterial pressure (MAP) was 101±10 and 119±9 mmHg in controls and A-CRF animals, respectively (P < 0.01). After 5 days of 4% NaCl diet MAP had increased by 24±6 mmHg in A-CRF animals vs. 2±1 mmHg in controls (P<0.001 between groups). Administration of L-NAME in the drinking water (50 mg/kg/day) increased MAP by 37±9 and 24±4 mmHg in A-CRF animals and controls, respectively (P< 0.01 between groups). Candesartan (10 mg/kg by gavage) produced a more pronounced reduction of MAP in controls vs. A-CRF animals (-12±3 vs. -5±5 mmHg, P<0.05). Aortic PWV was elevated in A-CRF rats (5.10±0.51 vs. 4.58±0.17 m/s, P<0.05) although histological analysis did not show aortic calcifications. At sacrifice, plasma levels of creatinine (259±46 vs. 31±2 μM, P<0.001) and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA, 0.65±0.04 vs. 0.45±0.02 μM, P < 0.001) were elevated in A-CRF animals whereas plasma renin activity was markedly suppressed (0.7±0.5 vs. 15.1±7.5 μg/L/h, P<0.001). Hypertension in A-CRF animals is characterized by low renin levels and is aggravated by high NaCl diet suggesting a pathogenic role for hypervolemia secondary to severe renal insufficiency. Although ADMA concentrations were elevated, A-CRF animals showed a more pronounced increase in MAP in response to L-NAME than controls, suggesting that reduced nitric oxide synthase activity was not a major cause of hypertension in this model. Finally, aortic stiffness was elevated in A-CRF animals as indicated by increased aortic PWV.


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