Atallah E, Pesenti Rossi G, Soares Filipe J F, Dalla Costa E, Mazzola S M, Minero M, Pecile A, Motta A, Barbieri S
Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria e Scienze Animali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Lodi, Italy.
Centro Ricerche Produzioni Animali, Reggio Emilia, Italy.
BMC Vet Res. 2025 Apr 9;21(1):253. doi: 10.1186/s12917-025-04708-w.
Efforts to enhance animal welfare have led to the investigation of alternative methods of performing surgical castration on young pigs that induce stress and anxiety. This study was conducted to establish the efficacy of immunocastration in heavy pigs, with non-invasive diagnostic indicators being salivary cortisol and testosterone levels.
At 225 days, a significant difference was noted in the cortisol levels of pigs in the treatment groups, with the immune-castrated (IC) recording higher levels than the surgically castrated (SC) animals. Furthermore, 196-day and 225-day-old IC pigs had remarkably elevated testosterone amounts. The changes that were seen to be significant after immunocastration indicate that the use of salivary tests can be a good way of evaluating how effective this alternative method is. Among SC pigs, a significant positive relationship was found between salivary cortisol and salivary testosterone concentrations at 225, 240, and 268 days. Moreover, no association was observed in IC animals. These findings signal that the hormonal levels and their interactions are related to different physiological reactions of pigs to immunological and surgical castration.
The results underline the significance of salivary cortisol and testosterone as stress and hormonal balance indicators in heavy pigs with immunocastration. This study provides insights into the complex hormonal reactions to stress post-castration and emphasizes the need for further research to enhance animal welfare practices. Overall, salivary testing offers a practical approach to evaluating immunocastration efficacy and monitoring pig health and well-being.
为提高动物福利，人们对幼猪实施外科去势的替代方法进行了研究，因为传统方法会引发应激和焦虑。本研究旨在确定免疫去势在育肥猪中的效果，采用唾液皮质醇和睾酮水平作为非侵入性诊断指标。
在225日龄时，治疗组猪的皮质醇水平存在显著差异，免疫去势（IC）猪的皮质醇水平高于手术去势（SC）猪。此外，196日龄和225日龄的IC猪睾酮含量显著升高。免疫去势后出现的显著变化表明，唾液检测可作为评估这种替代方法效果的良好方式。在SC猪中，225、240和268日龄时唾液皮质醇与唾液睾酮浓度之间存在显著正相关。此外，IC猪中未观察到相关性。这些发现表明，激素水平及其相互作用与猪对免疫去势和手术去势的不同生理反应有关。
结果强调了唾液皮质醇和睾酮作为育肥猪免疫去势应激和激素平衡指标的重要性。本研究深入了解了去势后应激的复杂激素反应，并强调需要进一步研究以改善动物福利实践。总体而言，唾液检测为评估免疫去势效果以及监测猪的健康和福祉提供了一种实用方法。
