A five domains assessment of sow welfare in a novel free farrowing system.

The Maternity Ring was developed as a free farrowing alternative to crates that preserved space whilst providing the sow with unrestricted movement. This experiment aimed to apply the Five Domains model to assess sow welfare in the Maternity Ring in comparison with the farrowing crate. Eighty-eight sows were housed in a farrowing crate (FC) and 83 in a Maternity Ring (MR), and measures collected focussed on nutrition, environment, health, behaviour, and mental state outcomes.

Excess dietary Lys reduces feed intake, stimulates jejunal CCK secretion and alters essential and non-essential blood AA profile in pigs.

Background: Commercial diets are frequently formulated to meet or exceed nutrient levels including those of limiting essential amino acids (AA) covering potential individual variations within the herd. However, the provision of dietary excess of AA, such as Lys, may lead to reduced appetite and growth in pigs. The mechanisms modulating these responses have not been extensively investigated.

Review: Towards truly stall-free pork production?

The individual housing of sows and boars within stalls is still frequent in commercial pork production, especially when the risk for impaired reproduction or welfare is high. Whilst many countries have either removed stall housing in gestation or are working towards this through the successful adoption of group housing, stalls are still used around weaning and mating and in farrowing crates for sows. In this review, we describe the stages in which stall use still occurs and why this is so, with the aim of determining whether stall-free pork production can realistically be achieved through successful industry adoption.

Leucine (and lysine) increased plasma levels of the satiety hormone cholecystokinin (CCK), and phenylalanine of the incretin glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) after oral gavages in pigs.

Excess dietary amino acids (AA) has been associated with reduced feed intake, increased satiation, and extended satiety in pigs. Recent ex vivo studies suggested that satiety peptide cholecystokinin (CCK) and insulinotropic glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), mediated the anorexigenic or insulinotropic effects of Lys, Glu, Phe, Ile, and Leu. However, the ex vivo model limitations require validation in vivo.

An oral gavage of lysine elicited early satiation while gavages of lysine, leucine, or isoleucine prolonged satiety in pigs.

Excess dietary amino acids (AA) may negatively affect feed intake in pigs. Previous results showed that Lys, Leu, Ile, Phe, and Glu significantly increased gut peptide secretion (i.e.

CCK and GLP-1 release in response to proteinogenic amino acids using a small intestine ex vivo model in pigs.

The impact of individual amino acids (AA) on gut hormone secretion and appetite regulation in pigs remains largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of the 20 proteinogenic AA on the release of the anorexigenic hormones cholecystokinin (CCK) and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) in postweaning pigs. Six 25-d-old male piglets (Domestic Landrace × Large White; body weight = 6.

Serum creatinine is a poor marker of a predicted change in muscle mass in lactating sows.

Serum creatinine (SCr) in humans has proven to be a reliable biomarker of body protein breakdown and/or muscle mass change. This study set out to investigate the potential of SCr to indicate a loss in sow muscle mass over lactation, validated against 3 methyl histidine (3MH) and blood urea nitrogen (BUN), markers of dietary and/or body protein breakdown. A total of 40 sows were allocated to four treatment groups aimed to induce body weight changes by restrictively feeding sows using a stepwise percentage reduction model.

Use of bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy to provide a measure of body composition in sows.

The ability to accurately estimate fat mass and fat-free mass (FFM) has the potential to improve the way in which sow body condition can be managed in a breeding herd. Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) has been evaluated as a practical technique for assessment of body composition in several livestock species, but similar work is lacking in sows. Bioelectrical impedance uses population-specific algorithms that require values for the apparent resistivities of body fluids and body proportion factors.

Acetylsalicylic acid supplementation improves protein utilization efficiency while vitamin E supplementation reduces markers of the inflammatory response in weaned pigs challenged with enterotoxigenic .

Background: This experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that vitamin E (Vit E) and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA), a cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) inhibitor, will additively reduce the production of the immunosuppressive molecule prostaglandin E (PGE) and hence reduce inflammatory responses in weaner pigs experimentally infected with an enterotoxigenic strain of .

Methods: The experiment was conducted in a research facility with 192 individually-housed male weaner pigs (Landrace × Large White) weighing 6.6 ± 0.

Ractopamine hydrochloride improves growth performance and carcass composition in immunocastrated boars, intact boars, and gilts.

The beta-agonist ractopamine is a dietary ingredient that improves growth and increases the lean mass with little change in fat mass in gilts and barrows. Limited data in boars indicate that dietary ractopamine may increase lean tissue and decrease fat deposition, whereas there are no data for immunocastrated boars. The aims of this investigation were 1) to assess whether the growth performance of all sexes could be maintained over 31 d by using a step-up dietary ractopamine feeding program of 5 mg/kg of ractopamine for the first 14 d, then increasing the dose to 10 mg/kg for a further 17 d, and 2) to determine if dietary ractopamine would increase lean mass in all sexes and decrease fat mass in boars and immunocastrated boars.

Effect of food enzymes on AME and composition of digesta from broiler chickens fed on diets containing non-starch polysaccharides isolated from lupin kernel.

1. The effects of lupin non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) on apparent metabolisable energy (AME) and composition of digesta from broiler chickens were examined in a dose-response experiment in conjunction with a single combination of 2 commercial enzyme products known from previous studies to partially depolymerise NSPs in diets containing sorghum, casein and lupin kernel. The 7-d experiment was conducted on broiler chickens (24 to 31 d of age) in metabolism cages.

Understanding the nutritional chemistry of lupin (Lupinus spp.) seed to improve livestock production efficiency.

In their raw, unprocessed form, lupins have many desirable characteristics for feeding both ruminants and single-stomached animals. An emphasis on these desirable characteristics when formulating diets, combined with an advanced knowledge of how components of lupins can influence nutritional value, will ensure they make a cost-effective contribution to livestock diets. The main lupin species used in livestock diets include Lupinus albus, L.

Developmental sensitivity of the piglet brain to docosahexanoic acid.

Human formula-fed infants have a lower concentration of docosahexanoic acid (DHA) in cerebral cortex compared with breast-fed infants. It is uncertain whether this biochemical deficit is reversible in later infancy. We used a piglet model to determine whether a critical window exists for the deposition of DHA in cerebral cortex during early postnatal development.

Assessment of apparent ileal digestibility of amino acids and nitrogen in cottonseed and soyabean meals fed to pigs determined using ileal dissection under halothane anaesthesia or following carbon dioxide-stunning.

Two experiments were conducted to determine apparent ileal digestibility of amino acids (AIDAA) and nitrogen (AIDN) in cottonseed meal (CSM) and soyabean meal (SBM) fed to growing pigs. In the first experiment, twenty-four male pigs (37.3 (SE 2.

Lysine oxidation by growing pigs receiving diets containing free and protein-bound lysine.

Knowledge of amino acid availability in feedstuffs is central to accurate diet formulation. Dietary lysine oxidation was evaluated as a means of predicting dietary lysine availability. Growing pigs (30 kg) were offered control (1.

The effect of heat on amino acids for growing pigs. 4. Nitrogen balance and urine, serum and plasma composition of growing pigs fed on raw or heat-treated field peas (Pisum sativum).

Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of heating field peas (Pisum sativum) on the N balance and urine, serum and plasma composition of growing pigs. In the first experiment, four diets containing raw field peas (cv. Wirrega) or field peas heated to 150 degrees (cv.

The effect of heat on amino acids for growing pigs. 3. The availability of lysine from heat-treated field peas (Pisum sativum cultivar Dundale) determined using the slope-ratio assay.

The effect of heat on the availability of lysine in field peas (Pisum sativum cultivar Dundale) was determined using the slope-ratio assay with growing pigs. The field peas were heated to 110 degrees, 135 degrees, 150 degrees, or 165 degrees for 15 min using a forced-air dehydrator. Lysine availability was significantly depressed (P < 0.

The effect of heat on amino acids for growing pigs. 2. Utilization of ileal-digestible lysine from heat-treated field peas (Pisum sativum cultivar Dundale).

Two growth experiments were conducted to determine the effect of heat on the utilization of ileal-digestible lysine from field peas (Pisum sativum cultivar Dundale) fed to growing pigs. Five lysine-deficient diets (0.36 g ileal-digestible lysine/MJ digestible energy (DE)) were formulated using raw field peas, and field peas heated to either 110 degrees, 135 degrees, 150 degrees, or 165 degrees for 15 min respectively in a forced-air dehydrator.

The effect of heat on amino acids for growing pigs. 1. A comparison of ileal and faecal digestibilities of amino acids in raw and heat-treated field peas (Pisum sativum cultivar Dundale).

Three experiments were conducted to examine the effect of heating field peas (Pisum sativum cultivar Dundale) on (1) proximate analysis and total amino acid composition, (2) ileal and faecal digestibilities of amino acids, and (3) digestible energy content. Alternative techniques for assessing ileal and faecal digestibilities and digestible energy respectively, were also investigated. Forced-air dehydrators were used to heat field peas at temperatures of 110 degrees, 135 degrees, 150 degrees or 165 degrees.

Immunocytochemistry of lysosomal hydrolases and their precursor forms in normal and mutant human cells.

The acid hydrolases alpha-glucosidase, beta-galactosidase, N-acetyl-beta-D-hexosaminidase, beta-glucocerebrosidase and cathepsin D were studied immunocytochemically in normal and mutant human cells using monoclonal and affinity-purified polyclonal antibodies. For light microscopy, Rhodamine or Fluorescein-labelled conjugates were used, and for electron microscopy protein A-gold conjugates were employed. With the double labelling procedure, it was found that in normal fibroblasts every lysosome contained all the enzymes studied.

Monoclonal antibodies against human beta-glucocerebrosidase.

Monoclonal antibodies were obtained against the membrane-bound lysosomal enzyme beta-glucocerebrosidase (acid beta-glucosidase), which is deficient in Gaucher's disease. BALB/c mice were immunized with homogeneous enzyme protein extracted from a sodium dodecyl sulphate/polyacrylamide gel. The mice were subsequently hyperimmunized with partially purified enzyme prior to fusion of spleen cells with myeloma cells.

Determination of Gaucher's disease phenotypes with monoclonal antibody.

Discrimination between the three clinical subtypes of Gaucher's disease based on the molecular forms of beta-glucocerebrosidase detected by monoclonal antibody is described. In normal fibroblast extracts, cross-reacting material (CRM) to human placental glucocerebrosidase is detected at Mr approximately equal to 63 000, 61 000 and 56 000. In Type 1 Gaucher's disease, the major fibroblast CRM has a Mr approximately equal to 56 000,, with less CRM seen at 61 000 and 56 000.

Assignment of the gene coding for human beta-glucocerebrosidase to the region q21-q31 of chromosome 1 using monoclonal antibodies.

A series of man-Chinese hamster somatic cell hybrids with a variable content of human chromosomes was used to study the localization of the human gene coding for the lysosomal enzyme beta-glucocerebrosidase (EC 3.2.1.