Morales Joaquin, Dereu Andre, Manso Alberto, de Frutos Laura, Piñeiro Carlos, Manzanilla Edgar G, Wuyts Niels
PigCHAMP Pro Europa S.L. c, Santa Catalina, 10, Segovia, Spain.
Zoetis Inc, Hoge Wei 10, 1930 Zaventem, Belgium.
Porcine Health Manag. 2017 Sep 6;3:18. doi: 10.1186/s40813-017-0066-1. eCollection 2017.
Surgical castration is still practiced in many EU countries to avoid undesirable aggressive behavior and boar taint in male pigs. However, evidence shows that castration is painful and has a detrimental influence on pig health. This study investigated the clinical and productive effects of surgical castration in the suckling period. A total of 3696 male pigs, 3 to 6 days old, comprising of 721 litters from two different farms were included in the study. Within each litter, half of the males were kept as intact males (IM) and half were surgically castrated (CM). Surgical castration was conducted by a trained farmer. Average daily gain (ADG), body weight at weaning (BWW), percentage of pre-weaning mortality (PWM) and antibiotic usage were measured. Pig major acute phase protein (PigMAP) serum concentrations were analyzed prior to castration, and on days 1 and 10 after castration. Productive performance data were analyzed using a linear mixed model. Mortality and percentage of pigs treated with antibiotics were analyzed using the Fisher's exact test.
No overall differences in BWW and ADG were observed between the two groups. However, differences were observed when the same effects were analyzed in the 25% lightest, 50% medium and 25% heaviest pigs at birth. PWM was higher in CM than in IM groups (6.3% vs 3.6%; 0.001), especially in the light (12.2% vs 6.2%; 0.02) and in the medium (5.5% vs 2.7%; 0.04) weight groups. In the heaviest pigs group PWM was not affected by castration, but IM tended to show higher ADG ( 0.06) and showed higher BWW (8.0 kg vs 7.8 kg; 0.05) than CM. There were no differences in percentage of pigs treated with antibiotics between the two groups (5.8% vs 5.8%; = 0.98) in this study. Furthermore, PigMAP was increased in CM the day after castration (0.944 mg/ml vs 0.847 mg/ml; = 0.025), but there was no difference between CM and IM groups at day 10.
Surgical castration has a negative impact on production in the suckling period because it causes an increase in PWM, especially in pigs in the three lower quartiles for body weight, and negatively affects the BWW in pigs born in the highest quartile for body weight.
在许多欧盟国家，仍采用手术阉割的方法来避免雄性猪出现不良的攻击性行为和公猪膻味。然而，有证据表明阉割会带来疼痛，并对猪的健康产生不利影响。本研究调查了哺乳期手术阉割的临床和生产效果。共有3696头3至6日龄的雄性猪被纳入研究，这些猪来自两个不同农场的721窝仔猪。在每窝仔猪中，一半的雄性仔猪作为完整雄性仔猪（IM）饲养，另一半进行手术阉割（CM）。手术阉割由一名训练有素的农民进行。测量了平均日增重（ADG）、断奶时体重（BWW）、断奶前死亡率（PWM）百分比和抗生素使用情况。在阉割前、阉割后第1天和第10天分析猪主要急性期蛋白（PigMAP）的血清浓度。生产性能数据采用线性混合模型进行分析。死亡率和使用抗生素治疗的猪的百分比采用Fisher精确检验进行分析。
两组之间在BWW和ADG方面未观察到总体差异。然而，在对出生时体重最轻的25%、中等的50%和最重的25%的猪进行相同效应分析时，观察到了差异。CM组的PWM高于IM组（6.3%对3.6%；P = 0.001），尤其是在轻体重组（12.2%对6.2%；P = 0.02）和中等体重组（5.5%对2.7%；P = 0.04）。在最重的猪组中，PWM不受阉割影响，但IM组的ADG往往更高（P = 0.06），且BWW高于CM组（8.0千克对7.8千克；P = 0.05）。在本研究中，两组之间使用抗生素治疗的猪的百分比没有差异（5.8%对5.8%；P = 0.98）。此外，阉割后第1天CM组的PigMAP升高（0.944毫克/毫升对0.847毫克/毫升；P = 0.025），但在第10天CM组和IM组之间没有差异。
手术阉割对哺乳期的生产有负面影响，因为它会导致PWM增加，尤其是体重处于三个较低四分位数的猪，并且对体重处于最高四分位数的出生仔猪的BWW有负面影响。
