In commercial pig breeding farms, boars are often exposed to stressful situations, such as confined housing conditions, inadequate environmental temperature, food restriction, lameness, diseases, among other challenges. Confined housing conditions, such as crates, are reported as a major source of stress for pregnant sows, and were banned in the UK and in Europe, however there is limited information about the impact of this housing system for boars. The goal of this study was to investigate the impact of three different housing conditions for boars and the consequence on the testicles. We studied 27 crossbred boars (F1 large white and landrace), housed in crates (n = 9), pens (n = 9), or enriched pens (n = 9), during 10 weeks. We collected data of scrotal superficies mean temperature (SSMT) with a thermal camera; we measured testicular parenchyma perfusion (ultrasound evaluation); and we measured sperm characteristics. We found that boars housed in crates had a higher SSMT (p < 0.05) and higher testicular parenchyma perfusion than boars housed in pens and enriched pens (p = 0.01). Regarding the semen features, we found that boars housed in crates showed more agglutinated semen, and higher values of linear curved linear velocity (VCL) than boars housed in pens and enriched pens, both indicators of reduced fertility. These results indicates that boars housed in pens and in enriched pens showed better indicators of testicular health, better sperm motility features (VCL, p = 0.046), and less agglutinated sperm (p < 0;05) than that observed in boars kept in crates.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9135237 | PMC |
| http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0268944 | PLOS |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Oral fluid testing can be used to monitor xenotransplant donor herds for porcine cytomegalovirus/roseolovirus status.
Front Vet Sci
December 2024
Division of Animal Sciences, National Swine Resource and Research Center, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, United States.
A major concern of xenotransplantation is that donor organs may be a source of pathogens. One pathogen in particular, porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV), a porcine roseolovirus (PRV), is thought to result in donor organ failure in an immunosuppressed state. Porcine cytomegalovirus is difficult to detect in organ donor swine because of its ability to establish latency.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEfficacy of feeding spray-dried porcine plasma to turkeys during brooding on performance to market age.
Pol J Vet Sci
September 2024
APC Europe, SLU, Avda. Sant Julià 246-258, P.I. El Congost, 08403, Granollers, Spain.
The effect of feeding spray dried porcine plasma (SDPP) to male turkeys during the first 4 weeks of life was evaluated at 20 weeks of age. A total of 648 male Hybrid Converter day-old turkeys were divided into two groups of 9 replicate pens of 36 birds each, and fed a commercial-type program of 7 diet phases. In phase 1 birds were fed a corn-soybean meal Control diet for 4 weeks, or a diet with 2% SDPP of similar nutrient density.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA new prediction model based on deep learning for pig house environment.
Sci Rep
December 2024
School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Qiqihar University, Qiqihar, 161006, China.
A prediction model of the pig house environment based on Bayesian optimization (BO), squeeze and excitation block (SE), convolutional neural network (CNN) and gated recurrent unit (GRU) is proposed to improve the prediction accuracy and animal welfare and take control measures in advance. To ensure the optimal model configuration, the model uses a BO algorithm to fine-tune hyper-parameters, such as the number of GRUs, initial learning rate and L2 normal form regularization factor. The environmental data are fed into the SE-CNN block, which extracts the local features of the data through convolutional operations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn-House Immunoglobulin Y-Based Immunoassay for Detecting Benzo[a]pyrene in Grilled Pork Samples.
Biosensors (Basel)
December 2024
School of Health Sciences Research, Research Institute for Health Sciences, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai 50200, Thailand.
Benzo[a]pyrene (B[a]P) is a hazardous polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon that accumulates in several environmental matrices as a result of incomplete combustion. Its presence, carcinogenic properties, and tendency for bioaccumulation provide significant risks to human health and the environment. The objective of this study is to create an immunoassay for the detection of benzo[a]pyrene utilizing immunoglobulin Y antibodies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnvironmental enrichment affects immunity and reduces disease severity in pigs after co-infection, with stronger effects when applied from birth than from weaning.
Front Vet Sci
December 2024
Adaptation Physiology Group, Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen, Netherlands.
We investigated whether environmental enrichment applied at different life stages of pigs affects the susceptibility to and severity of disease by studying immune cell functions around weaning and during nursery, the effects of infection in models and using a co-infection model of (PRRSV) followed by an infection. Pigs were either conventionally housed (CCH) or enriched housed throughout life, with enrichment consisting of extra space, rooting materials and co-mingling with another litter before weaning (EEH), or they were switched from conventional to enriched housing at weaning (CEH). Sixty days after birth, ten pigs per treatment were infected with PRRSV followed by an infection eight days later.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!