[Shortening of the upper jaw (brachygnathia superior) as a clinical feature of atrophic rhinitis in approximately eight-week-old piglets (author's transl)].

Determining the degree of shortening of the upper jaw is described as an effective and simple method by which piglets affected with severe atrophic rhinitis may be identified as early as the eighth week of life. A positive high correlation (r2 = 0.61) between shortening of the upper jaw and atrophy of the ventral conchae was found to be present in pigs at this age. Clinical and pathological studies of 2,000 heads of swine of various ages revealed changes of the conchae and nasal bones as well as shortening of the upper jaw in animals affected with atrophic rhinitis. Over 99 per cent of the affected animals showed changes of the conchae at an age of eight weeks. In 95 per cent of the cases, the nasal bones were also involved. In 92 per cent of the animals showing lesions of the conchae, which were pigs of two herds, the shortening of the upper jaw was given a grading of one or higher. In view of these findings, the piglets were selected for severe shorting of the upper jaw and deviation of the axis of the head. The losses caused by atrophic rhinitis were reduced to nil on these fattening farms.