Journal of animal science最新文献

{"title":"63 Evaluating the impact of a structured training program on university and high school student perceptions of the swine industry and related career opportunities","authors":"Kara E Flaherty, Abby Waldrop, Haley Schewecke, Megan Meyer, Jayden Black, Marissa Hall, Jacqueline Nolting, Maria Pieters, Pedro E Urriola, Talita Resende","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.280","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.280","url":null,"abstract":"Throughout recent years, the U.S. swine industry has experienced a severe shortage of labor. As workforce demographics begin to shift, there is an increasing need for agricultural exposure in younger generations. In universities, many undergraduate animal sciences students are only exposed to swine curriculum in their senior year. This late exposure to career opportunities may negatively impact subsequent choice to pursue such careers. The objective of this program, Pork Prospect, was to increase the awareness of swine production and related career opportunities for the new generation of students. The project was a collaborative effort between The Ohio State University and the University of Minnesota. Within the Pork Prospect scope, Swine Discovery Day (SDD) was held twice for students at OSU, once for students at UMN, and once for high school students located across Ohio. SDD was a day-long event featuring educational presentations given by professionals from the swine industry and a tour of a research and teaching swine farm associated with each university. Surveys were conducted using a five-point Likert scale (SDD) and a four-point Likert scale (SDD-Y) before and after SDD to identify if the structured training program changed students’ perceptions of the swine industry and associated career opportunities. Data were analyzed descriptively. Across both universities, 28 university students participated in the first part of SDD and 26 continued on the farm tour. Data from the surveys showed that before attending SDD, 10.71% (3/28) of students stated they would “strongly agree” with the affirmative “I am aware of career opportunities in the swine industry”, while after completing SDD, the proportion of students that chose that answer shifted to 73.07% (19/26). Following the training program, 96.15% (27/28) of respondents stated they would “strongly agree” to “have a better understanding of the swine industry”, in contrast to only 14.28% (4/28) that affirmed having a “good understanding of the swine industry” before the event. A total of 93 high school students responded to the before survey and 80 responded to the after survey. Before SDD-Youth, 18.28% (17/93) strongly agreed with the affirmative “I know about the swine industry”, with a noticeable shift to 55% (44/80) strongly agreeing after SDD-Youth. Additionally, before the event, 13.98% (13/93) of students strongly agreed they “are aware of careers in the swine industry” compared to 42.4% (34/80) following the program. The descriptive data collected suggests that the one-day training increased students’ exposure to swine production and career opportunities, demonstrating the effectiveness of initiatives like Pork Prospect – Swine Discovery Day.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"77 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104567","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"204 The effect of feeding bacillus subtilis on fecal microbiota and antimicrobial resistance gene composition of weaned pigs","authors":"Yating Zhao, Anneliek ter Horst, Shuhan Sun, Shya Navazesh, Peng Ji, C Titus Brown, Yanhong Liu","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.038","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.038","url":null,"abstract":"Our previous research observed that dietary supplementation of 500 mg/kg of Bacillus subtilis reduced the frequency of diarrhea and enhanced growth performance of weaned pigs experimentally infected with a pathogenic Escherichia coli (E. coli). This study aimed to further investigate the effects of dietary Bacillus subtilis or carbadox on the functional antimicrobial resistance gene (AMR) composition and abundance of the microbial community in feces collected from weaned pigs in this research project. The four experimental treatments were: 1) negative control, pigs fed with control diet without E. coli challenge, 2) positive control, pigs fed with control diet with E. coli challenge, 3) antibiotic group, pigs fed diet supplemented with 50 mg/kg of carbadox with E. coli challenge, and 4) probiotics group, pig fed diet supplemented with 500 mg/kg of Bacillus subtilis probiotics with E. coli challenge. A total of 32 fecal samples were directly collected from the rectum of pigs on day 21 after the first E. coli inoculation with 8 samples per treatment. Total microbial community DNA was extracted from fecal samples and then submitted to UC Davis Genome Center for Whole Genome- Shotgun Sequencing (NovaSeq S4 PE150) on the Illumina platform. Microbiota data analysis were conducted using Sourmash and R packages. AMR gene analysis was performed with the ATLAS pipeline and AMRFinderPlus. Supplementing Bacillus subtilis or antibiotics did not impact alpha diversity, including Chao1 and Shannon indices. The bacterial community composition in fecal samples collected from pigs in the antibiotics group were more separated (P < 0.05) from those in the other treatments. At the phylum level, supplementation of antibiotics reduced (P < 0.05) the relative abundance of Bacillota but increased (P < 0.10) the relative abundance of Bacteroidota and Eremiobacterota in feces of pigs compared with those in other groups. At the family level, supplementation of antibiotics had the lowest (P < 0.05) relative abundance of Lactobacillaceae, Streptococcaceae, Ruminococcaceae, CAG-239, and Burkholderiaceae among all treatments. However, pigs fed with antibiotics had the highest (P < 0.05) relative abundance of Erysipelotrichaceae, Turicibacteraceae, Clostridiaceae, Oscillospiraceae, Peptostreptococcaceae, and Succinivibrionaceae among all dietary treatments. A total of 77 AMR gene determinants were identified in fecal samples. 38 AMR genes that belong to 8 drug classes were shared by all treatments. The presence of aph(2’’)-lla were lower (P < 0.10) in Bacillus subtilis group compared with other treatments. The presence of tetB(P) were lower (P < 0.05) in the positive control among all treatments. The presence of cfx(A) were higher (P < 0.05) in negative and positive control than Bacillus subtilis treatment. In conclusion, dietary Bacillus subtilis and carbadox have different impacts on microbiota community and the presence ","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104549","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"144 Evaluating the effect of different doses of an organic acid and monoglyceride blend (Furst Strike) on nursery and finisher growth performance parameters","authors":"Thomas A Crome, Nicholas K Gabler, Greg A Hartsook, Pornpim Aparachita, Steve J J England, Woong B Kwon, Fredrik Sandberg","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.161","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.161","url":null,"abstract":"The increased antibiotic resistance to enteric pathogens such as Escherichia coli has led to a need for nutritionally supported gut health. We quantified the wean-to-market impact of poor enteric health in nursery pigs nutritionally supplemented with or without a blend of organic acids and esterified medium-chain fatty acids (Furst Strike, FS). Our objective was to investigate the optimal inclusion rate of FS in nursery diets to maximize lifetime growth performance using dose titration methodology. A total of 1,152 weaned pigs (6.2 ±0.14 kg) were blocked by parity and individual body weight and assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments: 1) Control, 2) Control + 2.5 g/kg FS, 3) Control + 5.0 g/kg FS, 4) Control + 7.5 g/kg FS. Nursery (N) diets were fed in three phases and finishing (F) diets in four phases: N1 (d 0-7), N2 (d 7-21), N3 (d 21-42), F1 (23-68 kg), F2 (68-91 kg), F3 (91-110 kg), and F4 (110-136 kg). FS was included only in N1 and N2. Pen weights were recorded on d 0, 7, 21, 42, 98, and 147, with individual weights on d 0, 42, 98, and 147. Pen ADG, ADFI, and Gain:Feed were calculated for each phase and overall. Morbidity, mortality, and daily injectable treatments were tracked. Data were analyzed in R using linear mixed models with Treatment as a fixed effect and fill as a random effect for nursery data. For finishing data, Nursery Treatment was a fixed effect with Initial BW as a covariate, except for Initial BW. Individual growth data were analyzed using linear models with Nursery Treatment as a fixed effect. Regression models assessed linear and quadratic trends across treatments. During N2, the population tested positive by culture and PCR for F18 enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. Increased scouring was reported in all pens. Pigs fed FS during N1 had increased feed intake by 19% compared to control (Treatment, P=0.003) and reduced total removals in N2 from 3.2% to 1.06% regardless of inclusion level (Linear, P=0.030). Feeding 5.0 g/kg FS tended to reduce injectable treatments by 38% during N2 (Treatment, P=0.056). A linear increase in ADFI from F1-F3 was observed in pigs fed FS from 2.44 to 2.52 kg (Linear, P=0.042) driven by a 5% increase in F2 ADFI (Treatment, P=0.030, Linear P=0.005). Additionally, pigs fed FS experienced a 4% increase in overall finishing ADFI (Treatment, P=0.093; Linear, P=0.009). Feeding 5.0 g/kg FS in N1 and N2 tended to increase marketed body weight by 3.5 kg (Treatment, P=0.087) and improved lifetime ADG by 2.2% (Treatment, P=0.006). The 7.5 g/kg FS inclusion was too high based quadratic responses not improving performance. In conclusion, 5.0 g/kg FS supported improved wean-market performance in pigs experiencing early-life enteric health burdens.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"90 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104574","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"237 Assessing the influence of sow loading strategy, functional teat number, and parity on litter performance","authors":"Elizabeth M Due, Brady McNeil, Amanda Cross, Ashley Hartman","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.261","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.261","url":null,"abstract":"Preweaning mortality presents a significant challenge for the swine industry, due to increased litter sizes that often exceed available functional teats. Therefore, it is imperative to understand the relationship between number of functional teats and piglet survival. Data from 1,261 multiparous F1 sows (DNA L241, DNA Genetics, Columbus, NE) were collected to investigate the impact of functional teat number, loading strategy, and parity on litter performance during lactation. Sow traits examined include functional teat count (FTC), parity, and loading strategy (LS), defined as the difference between the number of piglets started at 24-hour after birth and FTC. Key litter performance parameters included litter wean weight (WW), number of pigs weaned, and preweaning mortality (PWM), defined as the difference between the number of piglets started and weaned. Data were analyzed in R version 4.2.1 (R Core Team, 2022) using a linear mixed-effects model with fixed effects for parity, LS or FTC, and sow was included as a random litter effect. Compared to LS 0, WW is lower at LS -3 and -2 (P < 0.001), with no differences between LS 0 and LS -1, +1, +2, or +3 (P > 0.05). As LS increased from -3 to +1, number of pigs weaned increased (P < 0.01), with no differences between LS +1 to +3 (P > 0.05). Lower LS (-3, -2, -1) resulted in a reduction in pigs weaned compared to LS 0 (P < 0.001), while higher LS (+1, +2, +3) resulted in an increase in pigs weaned (P < 0.01). When increasing LS incrementally by 1, PWM from LS -3 to +1 did not differ (P > 0.05), however, PWM increased by 0.64 pigs from LS +1 to +2 (P < 0.01), with no further differences between LS +2 and +3. Compared to LS 0, PWM did not differ for LS -3 to +1 (P > 0.05), but LS +2 and +3 had higher rates (P < 0.001). FTC did not differ between parity groups (P > 0.05). Additionally, FTC had no impact on WW or number of pigs weaned, regardless of the number of pigs started (13-16; P > 0.05). Overall, increases in LS over 0 did not significantly affect WW, but positively influenced the number of pigs weaned, with variations in PWM emerging after +1 over FTC.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PSV-13 Influence of xylanase supplementation in growing-finishing pigs","authors":"Gemma González-Ortiz, Laura A Merriman, Gustavo Cordero","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.343","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.343","url":null,"abstract":"Xylanase is commonly incorporated into U.S. swine finishing diets due to feed efficiency and livability responses. The mechanisms behind this benefit includes reducing digesta viscosity, releasing entrapped nutrients, and hydrolyzing fiber into key arabinoxylan oligosaccharides fermented by microbe that generate short-chain fatty acids. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a xylanase (Econase XT 25; AB Vista, Marlborough, UK) on performance and nutrient digestibility of growing-finishing pigs. The hypothesis tested in this study was that supplementation of xylanase following the transition period until slaughter would improve energy and nutrient digestibility of pigs with positive effects on performance. Over a 96-day test period, 432 mixed sex pigs (21.5 ± 4.25 kg) were randomly assigned to one of the two dietary treatments in 36 pens with 12 animals each and 18 pens per diet. The two test treatments were a control diet (CTR), or the same diet supplemented with 100 g/tonne of xylanase (XYL, 16,000 BXU/kg). Diets were based on wheat, soybean-meal, sunflower meal, and palm oil, and were formulated according to FEDNA (2013) recommendations. The pelleted diets were fed over 2 phases: grower (from day 0 to day 53) and finisher (from day 53 to day 96). Fecal samples were collected directly from the rectum from three pigs per pen randomly selected during 4 consecutive days (from day 91 to 94) and pooled for the evaluation of apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of ash, dry and organic matter, protein and energy. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) was added to the finisher diet as an indigestible marker. Pig livability rate, feed intake, and weight gain were recorded, and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated. Data was analyzed using the Standard Least Square procedure of JMP 17 Pro with block and treatment as fixed effects. Overall, the general health of pigs was good, and no record of disease problems was reported throughout the study, although a 2% improvement in livability was observed in xylanase-supplemented pigs (P = 0.271). No differences were observed on average daily weight gain or average daily feed intake, (P > 0.05), but mortality corrected FCR (mFCR) was 2.7 points lower in XYL compared to CTR treatment (P = 0.040). Xylanase supplementation improved (P < 0.01) the ATTD coefficients of dry matter, organic matter, protein, and energy compared to CTR treatment, and a tendency was found for an improved ash utilization (P = 0.06). Based on the calculation for digestible energy, an improvement of 137 kcal/kg was supplied by the addition of xylanase to the diet. The hypothesis of the study was confirmed as xylanase supplementation of growing-finishing pig diets improved energy and nutrient digestibility and this may have contributed to the observed improvement in diet efficiency.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"34 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104595","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"41 Effect of space allocation on feeding behavior in grow-finish pigs","authors":"Mackenzie Griffin, Jayden Lawrence, Marley M Knowles, Michael Barrowclough, Justin W Rickard","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.002","url":null,"abstract":"The objective of this study was to evaluate the feeding behavior of grow-finish pigs in pens with two different floor space allowances. A total of 159 commercial crossbred barrows (n = 90; 25.87 ± 7.43 kg) and gilts (n = 69; 28.74 ± 4.08 kg) were housed in single gender pens and fed a common diet for approximately 14 weeks. At the start of the trial pigs were randomly assigned to pens providing one of two space allocations: 3.05m2/pig or 2.29m2/pig with 3 replicate pens per treatment. At allotment each pig was tagged in the ear with a unique colored ear tag for individual identification. Feed was delivered in standard 3-hole box feeders and water was delivered via nipple waterers. Pigs had ad libitum access to feed and water throughout the trial. Final body weight averaged 119.15 ± 31.54 kg (barrows) and 122.84 ± 12.55 kg (gilts). Video monitoring of trial pens was accomplished with cameras mounted to the barn ceiling and 12 h recordings were taken during week 1 (first week on trial following a 7 d acclimation period) and week 14 (last week before marketing at 97 d) to evaluate feeding behavior and activity at both the beginning and end of the grow-finish period. Behaviors of interest included activity (walking, standing, moving, drinking), the number of times each pig entered the feeder, total time spent eating and eating type (nibbler vs. gorger). Data were analyzed as a completely randomized design using the MIXED procedure in SAS. In week 1, increased floor space tended to increase the number of times pigs entered the feeder (P = 0.07) and significantly increased (P = 0.008) the total time spent eating by ~14%. However, these trends were not present at week 14. Floor space allocation did not influence eating type or alter activity level (P > 0.05) in either week 1 or week 14. No significant differences in feeding behavior resulted from an interaction between space allocation and gender. In week 1, gender did not influence the number of times pigs entered the feeder. However, barrows spent more time eating than gilts (84 vs. 63 min) (P < 0.0001). At week 14 these differences were not present (P > 0.05). As space allocation in swine production becomes increasingly scrutinized it will be important to evaluate behavior changes in the context of performance. In this study, increasing floor space impacted grow-finish pig feeding behavior early in the finishing period, but those behaviors were not observed at the end of finishing. Future research in this direction will attempt to identify at which point in production those behaviors change.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"97 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"179 Determining the productive energy of soybean meal relative to corn and feed-grade amino acids","authors":"Ty Kim, Ethan B Stas, Jessica L Smallfield, Hilario M Cordoba, Michael D Tokach, Robert D Goodband, Joel M DeRouchey, Jason C Woodworth, Katelyn N Gaffield, Jordan T Gebhardt, Keith D Haydon","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.189","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.189","url":null,"abstract":"A total of 2,153 finishing pigs (PIC 337 × 1050; initially 28.8 ± 0.47 kg) were used in a 112-d growth study to determine the productive energy of soybean meal (SBM) relative to corn and feed-grade amino acids. Pens of pigs were blocked by initial BW and allotted to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. There were 26 or 27 pigs per pen and 20 pens per treatment across two barns. Soybean meal NE value used in diet formulation was 2,087 kcal/kg (78% NE of corn). The four treatments consisted of a diet containing a low level of SBM (Low SBM) and three diets with 3.37 (Med-Low SBM), 6.69 (Med-High SBM), or 10% (High SBM) increase in SBM compared to the Low SBM diet. Feed-grade amino acid inclusion decreased as SBM increased with the High SBM diet not containing any feed-grade L-lysine. Treatment diets were fed in four phases. Pigs were weighed and feed disappearance was measured every 14 d to determine ADG, ADFI, G:F, and caloric efficiency (CE). Overall (d 0 to 112), there was a decrease (linear, P < 0.05) in ADG and ADFI as SBM level increased, but there was no effect on G:F. Caloric efficiency improved (linear, P < 0.05) as SBM increased suggesting a greater NE concentration than initially estimated. Increasing SBM decreased (linear, P < 0.05) carcass ADG and carcass G:F, but there was no effect on carcass CE. Increasing SBM decreased (linear, P < 0.05) HCW and carcass yield. Backfat depth and percentage lean were lowest and greatest, respectively, (quadratic, P < 0.05) for pigs fed the intermediate levels of SBM. There was an increase (linear, P < 0.05) in pig removals with increasing SBM but no treatment effect on mortality. However, when combined, removals and mortality were increased (linear, P < 0.05) as SBM increased. The results of this study suggest that when using caloric efficiency, the productive energy of SBM is estimated at 93.5% on a liveweight basis and 83.9% on a carcass weight basis of the energy of corn.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"19 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104642","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PSVI-15 Impact of high zinc oxide supplementation or lignocellulose supplement on fecal microbiota of weaned piglets","authors":"Eya Selmi, Clara Negrini, Antony T T Vincent, Marie-Pierre Letourneau-Montminy, Luca Lo Verso, Bertrand Medina, Frederic Guay","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.348","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.348","url":null,"abstract":"This project aimed to study the effect of high zinc oxide (ZO) and fiber supplementation from lignocellulose (LIGCEL) on the fecal microbiota of weaned piglets. At weaning (21 days), 150 piglets (6.39 ± 0.28 kg) were transferred to a nursery farm, and divided into 30 pens of 5 piglets each according to their weaning weight. Each pen was assigned to one of the following treatments: Control (CON, 150 mg/kg of zinc), ZO (2,500 mg/kg of zinc), and LIGCEL (CON + 3% lignocellulose). fed to the animalsadministered for 14 days. In each pen, 2 to 3 fresh fecal samples were collected and pooled on day 14. The 16s RNA gene amplification and sequencing were performed at the Genomic Analysis Platform (Université Laval, Québec, Canada). Amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) were generated using the DADA2 pipeline, considering the SILVA rRNA database. Alpha diversity was calculated on normalized data (evenness: Shannon and Simpson). For the beta diversity, the Bray Curtis distance matrix was calculated and plotted using a Nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) plot. The effects of diets were tested using a non-parametric PERMANOVA model, with 999 permutations. The differential abundance analysis on the different taxa was performed using Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) at family level. An LDA score of 3 was used as a cutoff value. A total of 11,083 ASVs were obtained. The ASVs were associated with 23 phyla and 107 families. The most abundant phyla were Firmicutes (71 ± 0.08%), Bacteroidota (25 ± 0.07%), and Proteobacteria (2 ± 0.04%); the most abundant families were Lachnospiraceae (30 ± 0.11%), Lactobacillaceae (26 ± 0.13%), and Prevotellaceae (20 ± 0.08%). Alpha diversity was not affected by diet. Diet significantly affected the Adonis test (R² = 0.20, P = 0.001). Piglets receiving the LIGCEL supplement were characterized by a higher abundance of Lactobacillaceae (P:adj= 0.0007, LDA:score= 5.20), Veillonellaceae (P:adj= 0.026, LDA:score= 4.38), Rikenellaceae (P:adj= 0.009, LDA:score= 3.78), Succinivibrionaceae (P:adj= 0.001, LDA:score= 3.68), and Selenomonadaceae (P:adj= 0.038, LDA:score= 3.61). CON piglets were characterized by a higher abundance of Enterobacteriaceae (P:adj= 0.046, LDA:score= 4.35), Christensenellaceae (P:adj= 0.0003, LDA:score= 4.09), and Spirochaetaceae (P:adj= 0.0003, LDA:score= 4.09). Piglets receiving the ZO diet were characterized by a higher abundance of Lachnospiraceae (P:adj= 0.0002, LDA:score= 5.11), Prevotellaceae (P:adj= 0.011, LDA:score= 4.88), Ruminococcaceae (P:adj= 0.0009, LDA:score= 4.30), Clostridiaceae (P:adj= 0.045, LDA:score= 4.00), and Butyricicoccaceae (P:adj= 0.015, LDA:score= 3.76). The addition of ZO clearly modified the fecal microbiota of piglets, highlighting families positively associated with intestinal health, as Lachnospiraceae, Prevotellaceae, and Ruminococcaceae. The lignocellulose supplement also promoted the development of favorable families, namely Lactobacillaceae and Rikenellaceae. In c","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"32 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104561","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"PSII-1 Borrelia burgdorferi Seroprevalence in horses","authors":"Rebecca Thompson, Virginia Buechner-Maxwell, Robin Foster, Allie Andrukonis, Erica Feuerbacher","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.295","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.295","url":null,"abstract":"Borrelia burgdorferi infection, also commonly called Lyme disease, has been attributed as the causative factor for many symptoms in animals and humans, including fever, joint pain, muscle pain, stiffness, rash, and neck pain. Borrelia burgdorferi seroprevalence in horses in southwest Virginia was last evaluated in 2003-2004. Since other areas have seen increased seroprevalence rates, the hypothesis was that seroprevalence rates would have increased since 2003-2004. In the current study, blood samples were drawn from 131 horses and evaluated using the Cornell Lyme Disease multiplex test. The study horses included 66 geldings and 65 mares with ages from 4 to 29 years. The results showed that 48.8% (64 horses) were positive for at least one outer surface protein (Osp). This is a 15 percentage point increase from the last data in this area. The most common outer surface protein was OspF (56 horses). In addition, 17 horses were positive for OspC and 3 horses were positive for OspA. This increase in positivity demonstrates the importance of further research on how Borrelia burgdorferi affects horses.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"3 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104570","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"107 The effect of water acidifiers on growth performance and general health of commercially housed weaned pigs","authors":"Atta Kofi Agyekum, Stephanie Torrey, Francis Simard, Mohsen Abedin","doi":"10.1093/jas/skaf102.141","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaf102.141","url":null,"abstract":"The study compared the efficacy of supplementing the drinking water with acidifiers on growth performance and general health of commercially housed weaned pigs. The study design was a randomized complete block using 1152 mixed-sex weaned pigs (~21 days old; 6.99 ± 0.31 kg BW) assigned to three treatments (384 piglets/ treatment) with 24 replicate pens (16 pigs/pen) per treatment. The treatments were: regular (non-supplemented) drinking water (Control) or drinking water supplemented with either acidifier blend A (composed largely of formic acid, propionic acid, and acetic acid), or blend B (composed largely of formic acid and lactic acid) administered for the first 21 days of the study. All pigs were fed a common 3-phase commercial feed (P1, days 1-10; P2, days 11-21; P3, days 21-42) containing nutritional levels of Zn (150 ppm ZnO). Body weight (BW) and feed disappearance were recorded weekly to calculate average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR). Body condition scoring and diarrhea frequency and severity were measured weekly for the first four weeks, with daily record of water disappearance. Individual end weights were categorized into light, average, and heavy (i.e., < 1, ± 1, and >1 standard deviation of the mean weight, respectively). Data were analyzed using PROC GLMMIX of SAS with appropriate models for the different data distributions; pen served as the experimental unit. The overall herd mortality was 0.61%, with a culling rate of 1.74%, and 1.13% of pigs receiving medical treatment for leg-related problems. Treatment did not significantly impact diarrhea incidence or severity, body condition score, or survival rate at the end of the study (P >0.10). During the water acidification period (d0-21), pigs receiving blend A had a greater ADG (P< 0.05; +15 g/d) and heavier BW (P< 0.05; +300 g) than those on blend B or Control. Additionally, FCR was lower (P< 0.05; -0.04 g/g) for blend A pigs than for Control, and water disappearance was greater for both blends A and B than Control (P< 0.05; +0.741 L/pig/d). For the entire nursery period (d0-42), pigs offered blend A had a greater ADG (P< 0.05; +9 g/d) and a heavier end weight (P< 0.05; +400 g) than those offered blend B and Control. Blend A resulted in fewer pigs with light BW (P=0.026; -6%) and tended to have more pigs with an average body (P=0.09; +6%) than Control. Finally, water disappearance from d0-41 was greater for pigs offered blends A and B than Control (P< 0.05; +0.814 L/pig/d). In conclusion, different formulations of water acidifiers differentially affect weaned pig’s growth. A combination of formic, propionic, and acetic acids resulted in heavier pigs than a combination of formic and lactic acids.","PeriodicalId":14895,"journal":{"name":"Journal of animal science","volume":"135 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.3,"publicationDate":"2025-05-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144104597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}