Influence of diet on experimental swine dysentery. 2. Effects of a vitamin E and selenium deficient diet supplemented with 3% cod liver oil, vitamin E or selenium.

Two experiments (Exps. II and III) were performed with colonic material from swine dysentery as inoculum. The results of Exp. II showed that the inoculation produced less pronounced clinical signs and patho-morphological lesions and also affected fewer pigs in the groups supplemented with vitamin E and selenium than in the group not given a corresponding supplementation. It is therefore concluded that the daily supply of these 2 nutritional factors significantly increased the resistance to swine dysentery. The cod liver oil incorporated in the diet of 2 groups in Exp. II had also a positive effect in this respect. In Exp. III the inoculation of the pigs fed only the basic ration (Group 1) produced relatively moderate clinical signs and patho-morphological lesions in half of the animals, the results in the rest of the group are, however, in accordance with the observations in the corresponding groups of the 2 preceding experiments. The other results of Exp. III indicate an increased resistance to swine dysentery in the group with selenium as the only supplement. However, no equivalent condition could be demonstrated when a similar supplement of vitamin E was used. The pigs in Exp. III given both nutritional factors showed perhaps the best resistance to swine dysentery, especially when the patho-morphological lesions are taken into consideration.