Fordyce Amanda L, Hines Elizabeth A, Edwards Erika M, Plaengkaeo Suppasit, Stalder Kenneth J, Colpoys Jessie D, Bundy Jennifer M, Johnson Anna K, Tyler Howard D
Department of Animal Science, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
Department of Animal Science, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA.
Transl Anim Sci. 2020 Nov 19;5(1):txaa214. doi: 10.1093/tas/txaa214. eCollection 2021 Jan.
In the swine industry, pre-weaning mortality, umbilical hernia incidence and pig market weight are a few contributing factors affecting profitability and welfare on farm. Therefore, the ability to reliably predict any of these outcomes is valuable to swine operations. Mortality during the pre-weaning phase, umbilical hernia incidence and poor-quality finisher pigs can represent a multi-million dollar loss and increase in welfare concerns to the producer. Consequently, the objective of this study was to evaluate whether birth weight (BW), umbilical cord diameter at birth (UCD), and the calculated umbilical diameter at birth to birth weight ratio (UCD:BW), are potential indicators of both placental efficiency and relative defect size in the abdominal musculature as well as reliable predictors of pre-weaning mortality, umbilical hernia incidence, and pig body weight at 150 d of age in a commercial facility. Mixed sex commercial piglets were followed through production. Four hundred sixty-five piglets were weighed within 1 h of birth, and the UCD was determined using digital calipers, these animals were followed through weaning. Three hundred eighty-five pigs of the 465 were followed through the post-wean phase in the nursery facility and checked for umbilical hernia incidence. Finally, of the 385 pigs, 177 pigs were assessed for umbilical hernia incidence and weighed a final time at the grower-finisher facility. All data were analyzed using PROC Logistic and PROC GLM procedures. The variables of UCD:BW and BW were significantly associated with the probability of increased pre-weaning mortality ( < 0.001). For example, piglets with a low UCD:BW, but an increased BW had the greatest survival rate. Umbilical diameter (UCD) was not significantly associated with pre-weaning mortality. Post-weaning mortality was not significantly affected by UCD:BW, BW, or UCD variables. Umbilical hernia incidence was not significantly affected by UCD:BW at the nursery phase or growing-finishing phase. Pig body weight at 150 d of age was significantly affected by UCD:BW, BW, and UCD variables < 0.001). For example, piglets that had a larger UCD weighed more at 150 d of age. In conclusion, measuring the calculated UCD:BW has the potential to be a novel tool for future research looking into the impacts of umbilical measurements as it relates to placental function, fetal development, piglet survivability and impacts on future performance of the animal.
在养猪业中，断奶前死亡率、脐疝发病率和猪的上市体重是影响农场盈利能力和福利的几个因素。因此，能够可靠地预测这些结果中的任何一个对养猪生产都很有价值。断奶前阶段的死亡率、脐疝发病率以及育肥猪质量差可能给生产者带来数百万美元的损失，并增加对动物福利的担忧。因此，本研究的目的是评估出生体重（BW）、出生时脐带直径（UCD）以及计算得出的出生时脐带直径与出生体重之比（UCD:BW）是否是胎盘效率和腹部肌肉相对缺陷大小的潜在指标，以及是否是商业养殖场断奶前死亡率、脐疝发病率和150日龄猪体重的可靠预测指标。对混合性别的商业仔猪进行全程跟踪。465头仔猪在出生后1小时内称重，并用数字卡尺测定UCD，这些仔猪跟踪至断奶。465头仔猪中的385头在保育舍度过断奶后阶段，并检查脐疝发病率。最后，在385头猪中，177头猪在生长育肥舍评估脐疝发病率并进行最后一次称重。所有数据使用PROC Logistic和PROC GLM程序进行分析。UCD:BW和BW变量与断奶前死亡率增加的概率显著相关（<0.001）。例如，UCD:BW低但BW增加的仔猪存活率最高。脐带直径（UCD）与断奶前死亡率无显著相关性。断奶后死亡率不受UCD:BW、BW或UCD变量的显著影响。在保育阶段或生长育肥阶段，脐疝发病率不受UCD:BW的显著影响。150日龄猪体重受UCD:BW、BW和UCD变量的显著影响（<0.001）。例如，UCD较大的仔猪在150日龄时体重更重。总之，测量计算得出的UCD:BW有可能成为未来研究脐带测量与胎盘功能、胎儿发育、仔猪存活率以及对动物未来性能影响之间关系的一种新工具。
