Integrating foraging and agroforestry into organic pig production - Environmental and animal benefits

Outdoor organic pig production is associated with significant risk of nitrogen (N) leaching with a subsequent increased risk of polluting nearby surface and ground water sources. Contributing factors are high input of supplementary feed and a relatively high animal stocking density combined with pigs’ heterogeneous deposition of urine and faeces within the paddock. In addition, pigs’ rooting behaviour destroys the grass cover, which adds to the risk of nitrate leaching. In particular, risk of leaching severely increases during winter with periods of high rainfall and impaired grass growth. Based on concerns for the environment, snout ringing of sows is common practice. However, as pigs have a high motivation for rooting, this is a source of conflict between animal welfare and nutrient efficiency concerns according to the organic principles. Therefore, based on pigs’ species-specific and natural behaviour, the overall aim of the PhD project was to contribute to development of alternative production and management strategies leading to an improved environmental performance

Organic growing pigs in pasture systems – effect of feeding strategy and cropping system on foraging activity, nutrient intake from the range area and pig performance. Økologiske slagtesvin på friland – effekt af foderstrategi og afgrødesystem på fourageringsaktivitet, næringsstofindtag fra udearealet samt tilvækst og foderudnyttelse

Production of organic growing pigs is characterized by indoor housing with access to outdoor concrete yards and feeding high amounts of supplementary feed based on grain and imported protein feed. However, this is not in accordence with the organic principles, which insist on optimization of nutrient recirculation, use of local renewable resources and animals being able to perform normal behaviour. The overall aim of the project was to contribute to development of an eco-efficent and trustworthy organic production system based on free-range growing pigs in pasture systems. The point of departure was to integrate the unique innate ability of pigs to forage above and below ground as a resource in the farming system. It was hypothesised that foraging in the range area could pose an important contribution to nutrient supply of growing pigs. Foraging activity, nutrient intake from the range area and pig performance were investigated in 36 growing pigs foraging on alfalfa or grass and fed either a standard organic feed mixture (HP: high protein) or a grain mixture with 52% of crude protein recommendations (LP: low protein) from an average live weight of 58 kg to 90 kg in three replicates. Pigs were fed 80% of energy recommendations and had access to a total of 154 m2 pig-1 during the 40-days experimental period from September to October 2013. Rooting activity was significantly affected by feed and forage crop interactions but the effect of protein level was more pronounced in grass paddocks with LP pigs rooting 44% of all observations and HP pigs 19% compared to 28 vs. 16% for pigs foraging on alfalfa. Protein level did not have a significant effect on grazing activity but pigs on alfalfa grazed significantly more than pigs on grass (10 vs. 4% of all observations). Based on crop samples alfalfa intake tended to be significantly affected by protein level with a daily dry matter intake in LP and HP pigs of 470 and 330 g pig-1, corresponding to an energy intake of 0.35 vs. 0.32 Danish Feed Units. Alfalfa crude protein and lysine intake was higher in LP pigs compared to HP pigs but the difference was not significant. Compared to grass paddocks available earthworm crude protein was higher in alfalfa paddocks (84 vs. 55 g pig-1 day-1) indicating the potential of contributing to protein requirements of organic growing pigs. Daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio were significantly affected by feed and forage crop interactions. LP treated pigs had 33% lower daily weight gain compared to HP pigs (589 vs. 878 g) and 31% poorer feed conversion ratio (3.75 vs. 2.59 kg feed kg-1 weight gain) in grass paddocks, whereas in alfalfa paddocks LP pigs only had 18% lower daily weight gain compared to HP pigs (741 vs. 900 g) and 14% lower feed conversion ratio (2.95 vs. 2.54 kg feed kg-1 weight gain). LP pigs foraging on alfalfa used 169 g less feed crude protein compared to HP pigs, whereas in grass paddocks it was 109 g less, indicating the nitrogen efficiency of the systems. Regarding development of eco-efficient forage based system for organic growing pigs, further investigations are needed, in particular on suitable forage crops, energy requirements for activity and social interactions and effect of group size on foraging behaviour

Effect of poplar trees on nitrogen and water balance in outdoor pig production – A case study in Denmark

Nitrate leaching from outdoor pig production is a long-standing environmental problem for surface and groundwater pollution. In this study, the effects of inclusion of poplar trees in paddocks for lactating sows on nitrogen (N) balances were studied for an organic pig farm in Denmark. Vegetation conditions, soil water and nitrate dynamics were measured in poplar and grass zones of paddocks belonging to main treatments: access to trees (AT), no access to trees (NAT) and a control without trees (NT), during the hydrological year April 2015 to April 2016. Soil water drainage for each zone, simulated by two simulation models (CoupModel and Daisy), was used to estimate nitrate leaching from the zones in each paddock. N balances (input minus output) for the treatments were computed and compared

Including trees in pasture-based pig systems to improve animal welfare and eco-efficiency

The overall idea is that trees in a pasture-based system will provide a more natural and stimuli-rich environment for the pig with possibilities to seek shadow in hot periods and shelter during Cold periods

The effects of ventilation tubes versus no ventilation tubes for recurrent acute otitis media or chronic otitis media with effusion in 9 to 36 month old Greenlandic children, the SIUTIT trial:study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

SPIRIT 2013 Checklist. (DOCX 61 kb

Træer i svinefolde

Producer svinekød og træbiomasse på samme areal

Municipality screening of citizens with suspicion of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Up to 436,000 adult Danes suffer from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), with only one third diagnosed at this time. The Danish National Board of Health recommends early detection of COPD, focusing on smokers/ex-smokers over 35 years of age with at least one lung symptom. A governmental prevention committee has suggested that the municipalities, in addition to general practice, should be a potential arena responsible for early detection of COPD. We undertook a pilot study to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of early detection of COPD in municipalities following the recommendations of the Danish National Board of Health

Intake of dairy products and associations with major atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases:a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies

Abstract Specific types of dairy products may be differentially associated with atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD). We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies to summarize findings on the associations between total dairy product intake and intake of dairy product subgroups and the risk of major atherosclerotic CVDs in the general adult population. Our protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019125455). PubMed and Embase were systematically searched through 15 August 2019. For high versus low intake and dose–response meta-analysis, random-effects modelling was used to calculate summary risk ratios (RR). There were 13 cohort studies included for coronary heart disease (CHD), 7 for ischemic stroke and none for peripheral artery disease. High-fat milk was positively associated with CHD (RR 1.08 (95% confidence interval 1.00–1.16) per 200 g higher intake/day) and cheese was inversely associated with CHD (RR 0.96 (95% confidence interval 0.93–0.98) per 20 g higher intake/day). Heterogeneity, however, was observed in high versus low meta-analyses. Milk was inversely associated with ischemic stroke in high versus low meta-analysis only. In conclusion, this systematic review indicates a positive association of high-fat milk and an inverse association of cheese with CHD risk. The findings should be interpreted in the context of the observed heterogeneity

Statin initiation and acute kidney injury following elective cardiovascular surgery: a population cohort study in Denmark

OBJECTIVES: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious complication of cardiac surgery. Statins may prevent post-surgical AKI, yet methodological concerns about existing studies raise questions about the magnitude of a protective effect. We sought to determine the effect of initiating a statin prior to elective cardiac surgery on post-surgical AKI in a regional Danish surgical cohort. METHODS: We identified adults who underwent cardiac surgery during 2006-11 using the Western Denmark Heart Registry. Presurgical medication use, pre- and post-surgical serum creatinine (sCr) measures, and other patient characteristics were obtained from Danish population-based registries. Post-surgical AKI was assessed using sCr measures within 5 days of surgery. The adjusted risk ratio (RR) of AKI and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated for patients who initiated a statin within 100 days prior to surgery compared with patients without prior statin use; long-term statin users were excluded to reduce healthy-user bias. Subanalyses were stratified by surgery type: coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and non-CABG surgeries. RESULTS: We identified 1929 CABG and 1775 non-CABG patients. AKI occurred in 25% of CABG and 28% of non-CABG surgeries, and in 29% of the non-users and 21% of the statin initiators. Half of CABG patients and 9% of non-CABG patients initiated a statin prior to surgery. The adjusted RRs for the effect of statin initiation on AKI were as follows: all surgeries combined, RR = 0.86 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.98); CABG, RR = 0.88 (0.74, 1.05); non-CABG RR = 0.87 (0.68, 1.11). CONCLUSIONS: Presurgical statin initiation is associated with a reduction in AKI risk after cardiac surgery

Synthesis of steroid analogs as potential CDK8 inhibitors using (S)-hydroxyalkyl azide in a stereoselective ring expansion

CDK8 har en viktig rolle i regulering av celletranskripsjon gjennom enzymets tilknytning til mediatorkomplekset eller ved fosforylering av transkripsjonsfaktorer. CDK8-mediert aktivering av onkogener har vist seg å være viktig i en rekke krefttyper, inkludert akutt myelogen leukemi (AML). Det har vært rapportert om at flere forbindelser med steroid-struktur har antikrefteffekter, og kan fungere som CDK8-hemmere. Eksempler på CDK8 hemmere er cortistatin A og CCT251545. Likheten mellom forbindelsene og steroid-strukturen tyder på at at A-ringen og D-ringen kan danne interaksjoner med CDK8. Forbindelsene ble derfor forenklet ved å ta utgangspunkt i steroid-strukturen, samtidig som A- og D-ringen ble modifisert. A-ringen ble utvidet til en heterosyklisk syv-ring i en regioselektiv ringutvidelse, og D-ringen ble påsatt ulike aromatiske heterosykler som tidligere har vist lovende resultater under biologisk testing. I det første trinnnet ble et hydroksylalkylazid syntetisert i en SN2 reaksjon. A-ringen i steroid-strukturen ble utvidet til en syvring ved at ketonet i 5a-dihydrotestosteron ble omgjort til et amid i en Schmidt reaksjon med hydroksylalkylazidet. Hydroksyl-gruppene ble oksidert av PCC, for så å kunne utføre beta-eliminasjon av aryl alkyl ketonet med NaH som base. D-ringen ble påsatt et triflat i en syntese med NaHMDS og N-fenyl-bis(trifluormetansulfonimid). 17-posisjonen ble videre påsatt ulike heterosykliske ringer som har vist lovende resultater tidligere i en Suzuki-Miyaura krysskobling. Syntesen resulterte i dannelse av fem forbindelser, som skal testes biologisk som mulige CDK8-hemmere