• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.674-682
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• 2014

Four experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of fat-soluble vitamin administration to sows or newborn pigs on plasma vitamin status. In Exp. 1 and 2, a total of 24 and 43 newborn pigs were allotted to control and vitamin treatments (vitamin $D_3$ with variable addition of vitamins A and E) orally or by i.m. injection. In Exp. 3, pigs from Exp. 2 were allotted to 2 treatments (${\alpha}$vitamins $D_3$ and E in drinking water) for 14 d postweaning. In Exp. 4, twenty-four gestating sows were used for 2 treatments (${\pm}injection$ of a vitamin $D_3$/A/E product 2 wk prepartum). In Exp. 1 and 2, when vitamin $D_3$ was administrated orally or by i.m. injection on d 1 of age, pigs had increased plasma 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25-OH $D_3$) concentration 10 d after administration compared with control pigs (p<0.05). The injectable administration with vitamin $D_3$ and E was able to achieve higher plasma 25-OH $D_3$ (p<0.05) and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol (p<0.05) concentrations than oral administration. At weaning, the pigs in the injection group had higher plasma 25-OH $D_3$ concentration than those in the other groups in both studies (p<0.05). In Exp. 3, water supplementation of vitamin $D_3$ and E postweaning increased plasma 25-OH $D_3$ and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol concentrations at d 14 postweaning (p<0.01). In Exp. 4, when sows were injected with the vitamin $D_3$ product prepartum, serum 25-OH $D_3$ concentrations of sows at farrowing (p<0.01), and in their progeny at birth (p<0.01) and weaning (p<0.05) were increased. These results demonstrated that fat-soluble vitamin administration to newborn pigs increased plasma 25-OH $D_3$ concentration regardless of administration routes and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol concentration by the injectable route, and that water supplementation of vitamin $D_3$ and E to nursery pigs increased plasma 25-OH $D_3$ and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol concentrations. Additionally, injecting sows with vitamin $D_3$ prepartum increased 25-OH $D_3$ in sows and their offspring. If continued research demonstrates that the serum levels of 25-OH $D_3$ are critical in weanling pigs, a variety of means to increase those levels are available to swine producers.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.237-242
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• 2001

Colostrum deprived, newborn pigs (N=12, $1.64{\pm}0.05kg$) were used to study the renal threshold of carnitine, and effects of emulsified medium-chain triglyceride (MCT, tri-8:0) feeding on kinetics of plasma carnitine and urinary carnitine excretion. An arterial catheter was inserted through an umbilical artery, and a bladder catheter was inserted via the urachus. Piglets were oro-gastrically gavaged with one of six carnitine levels (0, 60, 120, 180, 240, $480{\mu}mol/kg\;W^{0.75}$) with (+MCT) or without medium-chain triglycerides (-MCT) in 0.9% NaCl solution. Blood was sampled into heparinized tubes at 0, 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 14, and 20 h after gavage, and urine was collected and pooled into 1 h or 2 h composite samples to determine free- and short-chain carnitine concentrations. Plasma from the 12 newborn piglets before gavage contained $10.6{\pm}1.2{\mu}mol/L$ free carnitine and $7.2{\pm}0.6{\mu}mol/L$ acid-soluble acyl carnitine. The renal threshold for carnitine was similar between the MCT and the +MCT group (42.6 13.1 and $46.4{\pm}2.0{\mu}mol/L$, respectively), but the correlation between plasma free carnitine and urinary excretion was altered. Plasma free carnitine linearly increased with increasing carnitine dosage (-MCT group, $R^2=0.95$, p<0.001; +MCT group, $R^2=0.91$, p<0.001), but was decreased by 50% when medium-chain triglycerides were fed. The peak in plasma free carnitine concentration was depressed by medium-chain triglycerides feeding also. Therefore, the plasma and urinary short-chain/free carnitine ratio of the +MCT group was increased by 100% and 40%, respectively (p<0.01). Feeding of medium-chain triglycerides may delay plasma carnitine elevation via altering the kinetics of absorption. Similarly, the plasma and urinary short-chain/free carnitine ratio were affected by interaction between medium-chain triglycerides and time (p<0.01). The present study suggests that an oral carnitine dose over $480{\mu}mol/kg\;W^{0.75}$ may be needed to reach the free carnitine renal threshold within a short period, especially when provided together with medium-chain triglyceride.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.411-418
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• 1992

Recently, onset of bacterial disease, especially infiltration of chronic respiratory diseases have been increasing at high rate. The main cause of these diseases are originated from inappropriate sanitary management and slow progress in introducing system and herd free system, which are the base of productivity improvement in bigger pig management, Methods for the prevention and removal of these diseases, are divided into four categories. The first category includes prevention and removal of infectious diseases by organizing strict animal quarantine, enforcing vaccination, and legal regulation and disposal at the time of outbreak. The second category includes improvement of production systems. This purpose can be achieved by discontinuing the open herd system, which brings on the invasion of foreign pathogens and replacing the system by the closed type of farm. To Continue eradication process step-wisely by performing the all-in all-out system at every pig pen or herd level is also effective for this purpose. The third category includes introduction of herd free system can be achieved by repopulating conventional pigs with SPF pigs. If these means are unrealizable from economic or technical viewpoint, medicated early weaning system is perfomed. This system consists of disinfection of pigsty at pre-postpartum stage, application of drugs to pregnant sows and newborn piglets in accordance with the medication program, and early weaning and rearing of newborn piglets in isolation. The fourth category is sanital leading by veterinarians, aimed to eliminating incentives for diseases through diagnoses. Their main activities include periodical monitoring and improvement leading on each responsible subject.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.8
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• pp.1308-1314
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• 2018

Objective: Gut health improvements were monitored with respect to growth performance, diarrhea incidence, fecal bacterial population and intestinal morphology of suckling pigs orally supplemented with live Lactobacillus salivarius (L. salivarius) oral suspensions and challenged with $F4^+$ enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). Methods: Two groups of newborn pigs from 18 multiparous sows were randomly designated as non-supplemented (control: n = 114 piglets) and L. salivarius supplemented groups (treatment: n = 87 piglets). Treatment pigs were orally administered with 2 mL of $10^9$ colony-forming unit (CFU)/mL L. salivarius on days 1 to 3, then they were orally administered with 5 mL of $10^9CFU/mL$ L. salivarius on days 4 to 10, while those in control group received an equal amount of phosphate buffered saline solution. On day 24 (2 weeks post supplementation), one pig per replicate of both groups was orally administered with $10^8CFU/mL$ $F4^+$ ETEC, then they were euthanized on day 29 of experiment. Results: Results revealed that pigs in treatment group had a statistically significant increase in average daily gain, body weight and weight gain, and tended to lower diarrhea throughout the study. Numbers of Lactobacillus population in feces of treatment pigs were higher than control pigs, especially on day 10 of study. Numbers of total bacteria in intestinal contents of control pigs were also increased, but not Coliform and Lactobacillus populations. Histological examination revealed statistically significant improvements of villous height and villous/crypt ratio of duodenum, proximal jejunum and distal jejunum parts of treatment pigs compared with controls. Duodenal pH of treatment group was significantly decreased. Conclusion: Oral supplementation of live L. salivarius during the first 10 days of suckling pig promoted growth performance and gut health, reduced diarrhea incidence, increased fecal Lactobacillus populations and improved intestinal morphology.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.10
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• pp.1451-1455
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• 2009

Porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV) is a betaherpesvirus which causes reproductive failure in breeding sows and generalized infection in newborn piglets. It has worldwide distribution including Korea. Serological survey on this virus has been reported in 76.3% of pigs, but virological survey and epidemiological analysis on PCMV distribution have been reported in only a few papers in Korea. In this study, we investigated the virological prevalence and infection status of PCMV on a farm level in selected swine farms with respiratory diseases. A total of 1,938 blood samples taken from groups of pigs of different ages were collected from 31 farms distributed nationwide in 2006 and 2007 and tested by PCR to detect the presence of PCMV. Virological prevalence at farm level and pig level were 96.8% and 17.5%, respectively, suggesting that PCMV has endemically infected Korean pig herds. The prevalence at farm level in gilts, sows and suckling piglet groups were 16.7%, 36.7% and 56.7%, indicating that vertical infections frequently occurred in conception or newborn stage. Thereafter, detection rates of PCMV were slightly increased in pig groups aged 40 and 70 days (70.0% and 73.3%), and then gradually decreased as they aged - 33.3% in 100, 26.7% in 130 and 16.7% in 160 day old pig groups. The prevalence at pig level has similar patterns to that at farm level. With the passage of time, the variation of infection patterns of PCMV was investigated in four PCMV-positive farms. Three blood samples were collected at intervals of 6 months in each farm, and examined for presence of PCMV using PCR. The results revealed that once PCMV was introduced to the pig farms, it continuously circulated between and within groups of sows and piglets in those farms. Taken together, it can be concluded that PCMV has endemically infected Korean pig farms and has the potential risk for emerging pathogen in combination with the known endemic pathogens including porcine reproductive, respiratory syndrome virus and porcine circovirus type 2. Therefore, more research is needed on diagnosis, epidemiology and control strategy for PCMV on the field.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.97-104
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to examine the effect of macromolecule in a maturation medium on nuclear maturation, intracellular glutathione (GSH) level of oocytes, and embryonic development after parthenogenetic activation (PA) and somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) in pigs. Immature pig oocytes were cultured in maturation medium that was supplemented with each polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), pig follicular fluid (pFF) or newborn calf serum (NBCS) during the first 22 h and the second 22 h. Oocyte maturation was not influenced by the source of macromolecules during in vitro maturation (IVM). Embryo cleavage and cell number in blastocyst after PA was altered by the source of macromolecule but no difference was observed in blastocyst formation among treatments. Oocytes matured in PVA-PVA medium showed lower rates of oocyte-cell fusion (70.4% vs. 77${\sim}$82%) and embryo cleavage (75% vs. 86${\sim}$90%) after SCNT than those matured in other media but blastocyst formation was not altered (13${\sim}$27%) by different macromolecules. pFF added to IVM medium significantly increased the intracellular GSH level of oocytes compared to PVA and NBCS, particularly when pFF was supplemented during the first 22 h of IVM. Our results demonstrate that source of macromolecule in IVM medium influences developmental competence of oocytes after PA and SCNT, and that pFF supplementation during the early period (first 22 h) of IVM increases intracellular GSH level of oocytes.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.97-103
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• 1993

This study was conducted to determine the main effects of the parity and farrowing season on gestation length and newborn pigs on the basis of the data obtained from 234 litters of Landrace breeds raised at an integrated swine farm in Kyunggy province from January 1991 to December 1992. The results obtained are summarized as follows ; 1. The average gestation length was 115.37 days, and 114.64 days of 8th parity and over was shorter than those of other parities. 2. The averages of litter size and litter size alive per sow were 9.91 and 9.50 heads. The litter size horn at 1st parity was smaller than at other parities, and the litter size in spring was larger than in summer, autumn or winter. 3. The averages of birth weight per litter and pig were 13.53 kg and 1.37 kg. The effect of farrowing season for each litter weight(p<0.01) and pig weight(p<0.05) at birth was significantly higher in spring than other seasons. 4. Incidence of malformation and stillbirth at birth was 4. 10%, and it at 8th parity and over showed the highest rate(7.50%).

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.301-308
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• 1993

Three or 7day old piglets were infected experimentally with different encephalomyocarditis virus isolates to detect the viral antigen by the immunoperoxidase technique and to observe strain difference in their pathogenecity in newborn pigs by comparing clinical signs and pathologic lesions. Clinical signs of the infected pigs were different depending on the virus strain, pig age and infection route. Encephalomyocarditis virus(EMCV) NVSL-PR isolate was more pathogenic than MN-25 and MN-30 isolate. Three day old piglets showed more severe illness than 7 day old piglets. Predominant clinical signs were sudden death without noticeable clinical signs and dyspnea manifested as heavy abdominal breathing. Contact-infection from infected piglets to controls was observed in the oro-nasally infected group but not the intramuscular group. Common necropsy findings of dead piglets in both age groups infected with MN-25 and NVSL-PR were accumulation of excessive fluid in the body cavities and mild to diffuse necrotic areas observed in the hearts and occasionally in the livers. Microscopically, myocarditis with inflammatory cell infiltration, necrosis of the myocardial muscle fibers and occasional mineralization were observed along with interstitial pneumonia and centrolobular necrosis in the liver. Using an immunoperoxidase technique, viral antigen was detected in myocardial muscle fibers of piglets infected with EMCV.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.307-315
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• 2001

Litter size has been one of the important economic traits in porcine reproduction. The insulin-like growth factor (IGF) system has been shown to mediate actions of the steroid hormone or to synergize with other endocrine factors so that it consequently plays roles in reproductive processes, including ovulation, implantation, maintenance of pregnancy, and fetal development. However, the effect of the serum IGF system on porcine litter size has not been deeply studied. Therefore, this study was conducted to relate serum IFG-II concentration and IGF binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3) expression with porcine litter size. Moreover, the possible association of those with estrogen receptor (ER) as a candidate gene for litter size was investigated. Swine were separated into two groups showing high and low litter sizes, and sera were collected from sows in the estrous cycle to postnatal growth of their female progeny. Serum IFG-II concentration was measured by radioimmunoassay and IGFBP-3 expression was detected by Western ligand blotting. During the estrous cycle, IGFBP-3 expression in both groups decreased moderately from metestrus to estrus, but IFG-II concentration showed a reverse pattern. Also, IFG-II concentration and IGFBP-3 expression decreased gradually as pregnancy proceeded. Unlike IGFBP-3, IFG-II decreased moderately as newborn pigs grew. Significant differences in serum IFG-II amount between the two groups were detected at 60 (p<0.01), 75, 90, and 105 d (p<0.05) of pregnancy and at 60 (p<0.01), 45, and 105 d (p<0.05) of postnatal growth. Furthermore, based on ER genotypes, a high litter size group with genotypes AB and BB showed lower IFG-II concentration than a low litter size group with a genotype AA during pregnancy. Taken together, the results indicate that the serum IFG-II and IGFBP-3 are correlated with the litter size in pigs.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.155-164
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• 2023

A total of 16 sows (average parity = 3.5 ± 0.10, standard deviation = 2.05) and their newborn pigs (Duroc × [Landrace × Yorkshire], initial body weight 1.53 ± 0.07 kg) were used in a 21-day study. On day 3 of age, piglets along with their dam were divided into two groups: CON and TRT. CON group piglets did not receive any iron injection while, TRT group piglets received 200 mg of injectable iron (GleptoForte) in a single dose. The administration of iron at day-3 of birth improved weaning body weight and overall average daily gain in sucking piglets compared with their control counterparts. For blood criteria, injection of 200 mg of iron improved serum iron values and hematocrit and decreased total iron binding capacity (TIBC) during the day 21 period. In summary, 200 mg iron injection at birth resulted in greater growth performance and blood iron status. These results indicate that providing 200 mg of injectable iron is sufficient to optimize the growth performance and blood iron status of suckling piglets.