Traits Defining Sow Lifetime Maternal Performance

Declining sow performance with increasing parity or an increase in the number of poor- quality pigs potentially impacts on farm productivity. This study investigated the phenotypic and genetic background of the sow's influence on (i) the number of pigs not meeting the industry standards (tail-enders) and (ii) changes in performance with parity. Data were available for 3592 sows and their litters (13,976 litters) from a pig production system in NSW, Australia. The mean, standard deviation (SD), and slope for trait values over time were estimated for the sow characteristic traits: number of born-alive (NBA) and stillborn (SB) piglets and body condition of sow recorded with a caliper (CAL), along with maternal effects on piglet performance, represented by: average piglet birth weight (APBW), number of weaned piglets (WEAN), and tail-enders (TEND). Traits were analyzed in ASReml 4.2, by using an animal model. The number of tail-enders produced by a sow is a heritable trait, with a heritability estimate of 0.14 ± 0.04. Sow characteristics and maternal effects on piglet performance expressed by mean and slope had similar heritability estimates, ranging from 0.10 ± 0.03 to 0.38 ± 0.05, whereas estimates for SD traits were generally not different from zero. The latter suggests individual variability in sow characteristics or maternal performance between parities is largely not genetic in origin. This study demonstrated that more attention is required to identify contributions to the problem of tail-enders, and that slope traits could potentially be useful in the breeding program to maximize lifetime performance

Feed intake and feeding behavior traits for gestating sows recorded using electronic sow feeders

Electronic sow feeding (ESF) systems are used to control feed delivery to individual sows that are group-housed. Feeding levels for gestating sows are typically restricted to prevent excessive body weight gain. Any alteration of intake from the allocated feeding curve or unusual feeding behavior could indicate potential health issues. The objective of this study was to use data recorded by ESF to establish and characterize novel feed intake and feeding behavior traits and to estimate their heritabilities. Raw data were available from two farms with in-house manufactured (Farm A) or commercial (Farm B) ESF. The traits derived included feed intake, time spent eating, and rate of feed consumption, averaged across or within specific time periods of gestation. Additional phenotypes included average daily number of feeding events (AFE), along with the cumulative numbers of days where sows spent longer than 30 min in the ESF (ABOVE30), missed their daily intake (MISSF), or consumed below 1 kg of feed (BELOW1). The appetite of sows was represented by averages of score (APPETITE), a binary value for allocation eaten or not (DA_bin), or the standard deviation of the difference between feed intake and allocation (SDA-I). Gilts took longer to eat than sows (15.5 ± 0.13 vs. 14.1 ± 0.11 min/d) despite a lower feed allocation (2.13 ± 0.00 vs. 2.36 ± 0.01 kg/d). The lowest heritability estimates (below 0.10) occurred for feed intake traits, due to the restriction in feed allocation, although heritabilities were slightly higher for Farm B, with restriction in the eating time. The low heritability for AFE (0.05 ± 0.02) may have reflected the lack of recording of nonfeeding visits, but repeatability was moderate (0.26 ± 0.03, Farm A). Time-related traits were moderately to highly heritable and repeatable, demonstrating genetic variation between individuals in their feeding behaviors. Heritabilities for BELOW1 (Farm A: 0.16 ± 0.04 and Farm B: 0.15 ± 0.09) and SDA-I (Farm A: 0.17 ± 0.04 and Farm B: 0.10 ± 0.08) were similar across farms. In contrast, MISSF was moderately heritable in Farm A (0.19 ± 0.04) but lowly heritable in Farm B (0.05 ± 0.07). Heritabilities for DA_bin were dissimilar between farms (Farm A: 0.02 ± 0.02 and Farm B: 0.23 ± 0.10) despite similar incidence. Individual phenotypes constructed from ESF data could be useful for genetic evaluation purposes, but equivalent capabilities to generate phenotypes were not available for both ESF systems

Improving sow welfare and outcomes in the farrowing house by identifying early indicators from pre-farrowing assessment

Poor outcomes reflect low performance during the farrowing and lactation periods and unanticipated sow removals. Since the period around farrowing has the highest risk for sow health issues, monitoring of sows in that time-period will improve both welfare and productivity. The aim of this study was to identify the most relevant risk factors for predicting poor outcomes and the implication for sow welfare. Identifying these factors could potentially enable management interventions to decrease incidences of compromised welfare or poor performance. Data from 1,103 sows sourced from two nucleus herds were recorded for a range of variables investigated as potential predictors of poor outcomes in the farrowing house. Poor outcomes (scored as binary traits) reflected three categories in a sow's lifecycle: farrowing, lactation, and removals. Univariate logistic regression was used to identify predictors in the first instance. Predictors from univariate analyses were subsequently considered together in multi-variate models. The least square means representing predicted probabilities of poor outcomes were then reported on the observed scale. Several predictors were significant across two different environments (farms) and for all three categories. These predictors included feed refusal (lack of appetite), crate fit, locomotion score, and respiration rate. Normal appetite compared to feed refusals reduced the risk of farrowing failure (13.5 vs. 22.2%, P = 0.025) and removals (10.4 vs. 20.4%, P P P = 0.025) and reduced piglet mortality (P P P = 0.014). Sows with higher respiration rates had a significantly (

Dopamine Regulates Mobilization of Mesenchymal Stem Cells during Wound Angiogenesis

Angiogenesis is an important step in the complex biological and molecular events leading to successful healing of dermal wounds. Among the different cellular effectors of wound angiogenesis, the role of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) is of current interest due to their transdifferentiation and proangiogenic potentials. Skin is richly innervated by sympathetic nerves which secrete dopamine (DA) and we have recently shown that concentration of DA present in synaptic cleft can significantly inhibit wound tissue neovascularization. As recent reports indicate that MSCs by mobilizing into wound bed play an important role in promoting wound angiogenesis, we therefore investigated the effect of DA on the migration of MSCs in wound tissues. DA acted through its D2 receptors present in the MSCs to inhibit their mobilization to the wound beds by suppressing Akt phosphorylation and actin polymerization. In contrast, this inhibitory effect of DA was reversed after treatment with specific DA D2 receptor antagonist. Increased mobilization of MSCs was demonstrated in the wound site following blockade of DA D2 receptor mediated actions, and this in turn was associated with significantly more angiogenesis in wound tissues. This study is of translational value and indicates use of DA D2 receptor antagonists to stimulate mobilization of these stem cells for faster regeneration of damaged tissues

Light regulation of metabolic pathways in fungi

Light represents a major carrier of information in nature. The molecular machineries translating its electromagnetic energy (photons) into the chemical language of cells transmit vital signals for adjustment of virtually every living organism to its habitat. Fungi react to illumination in various ways, and we found that they initiate considerable adaptations in their metabolic pathways upon growth in light or after perception of a light pulse. Alterations in response to light have predominantly been observed in carotenoid metabolism, polysaccharide and carbohydrate metabolism, fatty acid metabolism, nucleotide and nucleoside metabolism, and in regulation of production of secondary metabolites. Transcription of genes is initiated within minutes, abundance and activity of metabolic enzymes are adjusted, and subsequently, levels of metabolites are altered to cope with the harmful effects of light or to prepare for reproduction, which is dependent on light in many cases. This review aims to give an overview on metabolic pathways impacted by light and to illustrate the physiological significance of light for fungi. We provide a basis for assessment whether a given metabolic pathway might be subject to regulation by light and how these properties can be exploited for improvement of biotechnological processes

Gilts and sows adapt feed intake and feeding behaviour differently when moved into dynamic groups with electronic sow feeders

Introduction: Disruption of feed intake during gestation has detrimental effects on reproductive performance and increased sow removals (Vargovic et al., 2021). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the introduction of new sows to existing group-housed sows was associated with disruptions to feed intake or changes to feeding behaviour

The value of innate sow appetite as a model trait for maternal breeding objectives

The concept presented here evaluated benefits of including 'innate appetite' as an additional source of information to enhance response within a maternal breeding objective. The term 'innate appetite' refers to (heritable) feed intake (or comparable feeding behaviour) data recorded at any point in a sows' life-cycle, reflecting an animals desire to eat. When 'innate intake' was included as a selection criterion, the overall response increased from $41.98 to$47.31. The main proportion of the overall response was attributed to traits recorded on growing pigs. At the same time, farrowing and pre-weaning survival, wean-to-conception interval and longevity improved. Maternal breeding objectives in pigs can be extended by using innate appetite data, provided that uncertainty of genetic parameters, in particular between traits of growing pigs and sows is clarified

Genetic parameters for urinalysis traits recorded on gestating sows

Urinalysis can be used to detect sows that typically remain unidentified with health conditions such as urinary tract infection, and also provides data on physiological variables reflecting metabolic status (e.g. glucose, ketones). The urine was collected from gilts and sows (N=694) after animals were transferred to the farrowing shed. The traits were defined from the urinalysis test strip results, with additional subjective measurements of odour, colour and turbidity. Subsequently, a trait representing urinary tract infection was defined. Heritability estimates were in a range 0.08 to 0.36, except for the presence of blood (0.03). Strong genetic correlations were estimated between bilirubin and urobilinogen (0.78), but not other trait combinations. The study demonstrated that several urinalysis traits could be considered as selection criteria for increasing the health status of sows. However, alternative procedures to collect phenotypes are required to improve ease of data collection. The associations of urinalysis parameters with breeding objective traits requires further investigation

Economic benefit of additional recording for welfare traits in maternal breeding objectives for pigs

The purpose of this study was to investigate, using selection index calculations, the economic benefits of improving welfare by expanding recording within traditional pig breeding programs to include welfare-related traits. The genetic parameters were adapted from several Australian studies. A basic breeding objective including average daily gain, backfat thickness and number of piglets born alive was extended to include welfare traits and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Welfare traits were: survival of piglets at farrowing (FS) and until weaning (PWS), weaning to conception interval (WCI), sow mature weight (MWT) and sow longevity (LONG). Sow appetite before farrowing (FRBF) and body condition before farrowing (CAL) were considered as additional selection criteria. When welfare traits were absent from the breeding objective and selection criteria, this resulted in reduced LONG, higher MWT, prolonged WCI and overall lower genetic response in the index in comparison with other scenarios. Valuing and recording welfare traits resulted in desirable responses for both production and welfare traits and increased overall economic merit. Including FCR in the breeding objective made it more difficult to improve welfare traits, particularly if FCR was recorded