• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.788-793
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• 2016

Post-weaning diarrhea (PWD), mostly caused by enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC), remains to be a major source of economic loss in swine industry. The use of the ETEC-oral challenge model is often applied to mimic unsanitary commercial swine farm conditions where pathogens and unknown complex microbes exist and can cause severe infections in pigs. The purpose of this study was (1) to estimate ETEC density using spectrophotometric computation, (2) to determine survivability of ETEC after storing at $-20^{\circ}C$ for 7 days, and (3) to evaluate survivability of ETEC after blending with diluted sweeteners (0, 5, 10, 20, and 40% sucrose in phosphate buffered saline [PBS]). Cell density was quantified using UV-VIS spectrophotometer and counting ETEC colony forming units (cfu) at 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, 180, 210, and 240 min. The established linear equation ($y=0.0031x^2-0.0079x+0.0043$ and $y=0.0046x^2-0.0151x+0.0113$) was used for robust quantification of each ETEC cell density. ETEC stored at $-20^{\circ}C$ showed 108 cfu/mL after thawing and incubation. When ETEC was blended with sweeteners (20 and 40%), survival of ETEC was decreased by 58 and 54% in 5 min post blending. However, addition of 20% of sweetener resulted in a higher survivability than those with other media concentrations. Therefore, the use of ETEC-oral challenge model would be possible as a stable method if we could confirm the appropriate medium that increases survivability of ETEC in weaner pigs.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.60 no.1
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• pp.29.1-29.6
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• 2018

Background: Dietary supplementation of zinc oxide (ZnO) to 2000 to 4000 mg/kg is known to be effective for the prevention and treatment of post-weaning diarrhea in the pig. Such a 'pharmacological' supplementation, however, can potentially result in environmental pollution of the heavy metal, because dietary ZnO is mostly excreted unabsorbed. Two experiments (Exp.) were performed in the present study to determine the effects of a lipid-coated ZnO supplement Shield Zn (SZ) compared with those of ZnO. Methods: In Exp. 1, a total of 240 21-day-old weanling pigs were fed a diet supplemented with 100 mg Zn/kg as ZnO (ZnO-100), ZnO-2500, SZ-100, or SZ-200 in 24 pens for 14 days on a farm with its post-weaning pigs exhibiting a low incidence of diarrhea. Exp. 2 was performed using 192 24-day-old piglets as in Exp. 1 on a different farm, which exhibited a high incidence of diarrhea. Results: In Exp. 1, fecal consistency (diarrhea) score (FCS) was less for the ZnO-2500 and SZ-200 groups than for the SZ-100 group (P < 0.05), with no difference between the SZ-100 and ZnO-100 groups. Both average daily gain (ADG) and gain:feed ratio were less for the SZ-200 group than for the ZnO-2500 group, with no difference between the ZnO-100 group and SZ-100 or SZ-200 group. The villus height (VH), crypt depth (CD), and VH:CD ratio of the intestinal mucosa were not influenced by the treatment. In Exp. 2, FCS was lowest for the ZnO-2500 group, with no difference among the other groups. However, neither the ADG nor gain:feed ratio was influenced by the treatment. Conclusion: Results suggest that physiological SZ supplementation has less beneficial effects than pharmacological ZnO for the alleviation of diarrhea irrespective of its severity and for promoting growth without influencing their integrity of the intestinal mucosal structures with little advantage over physiological ZnO in weanling pigs with a small pen size.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.459-463
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• 2013

A study investigated the effects of a mixture of Lactobacillus plantarum (L. plantarum) and Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) on diarrhea incidence, immune response, and fecal microflora counts in post-weaning piglets. One hundred 28-day-old piglets were randomly assigned to five treatment groups: negative control (NC), free of antibiotics; positive control (PC), 0.03% chlortetracycline; LB 1, a mixture of L. plantarum and B. subtilis (LB) 0.5 kg/ton feed; LB 2, LB 1.0 kg/ton feed; and LB 3, LB 2.0 kg/ton feed. Diarrhea scores for LB 2 and LB 3 from the 2nd week were significantly reduced compared to NC (P<0.05). In terms of the level of IgG and IFN-${\gamma}$, all treatment groups were significantly higher than NC (P<0.05), and the IgG level of LB 3 was significantly higher than that of PC (P<0.05). Furthermore, fecal lactic acid bacteria (LAB) counts for LB 2 and LB 3 were significantly higher than those of NC and PC (P<0.05). In addition, fecal Enterobacteriaceae (ENT) counts for PC, LB 2 and LB 3 were significantly lower than those of NC (P<0.05). Based on the results from this study, it was concluded that a combination of L. plantarum and B. subtilis strains could be used as potential alternatives to antibiotics to prevent diarrhea incidence in piglets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.369-378
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• 2018

Objective: The impact of forage feeding strategy on growth performance, ruminal fermentation and nutrient digestibility in post-weaning calves was investigated. Methods: Forty-five female Holstein calves (body weight [BW] = $79.79{\pm}0.38kg$) were enrolled in the 35-d study at one week after weaning and randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatments. All diets were fed as total mixed ration containing 60% (dry matter [DM] basis) of basal starter feed and 40% (DM basis) of forage, but varied in composition of forage source including i) alfalfa (40% DM, AH); ii) alfalfa hay (26.7% DM)+oat hay (13.3% DM; OH); iii) alfalfa hay (26.7% DM)+corn silage (13.3% DM; WS). Results: Dry matter intake was not different among treatment groups (p>0.05). However, BW (p<0.05) and average daily gain (p<0.05) of calves fed AH and OH were greater than WS-fed calves, whereas heart girth was greater in OH-fed calves than those fed AH and WS (p<0.05). Ruminal fermentation parameters including proportion of butyric acid, acetated-to-propionate ratio, concentration of total volatile fatty acid, protozoal protein, bacterial protein, and microbial protein in rumen were the highest in OH (p<0.05) and the lowest in WS. Compared with the AH and WS, feeding oat hay to postweaning calves increased crude protein digestibility (p<0.05), and decreased duration of diarrhea (p<0.05) and fecal index (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our results suggested that partially replacing alfalfa hay with oat hay improved ruminal fermentation, nitrogen utilization, and reduced incidence of diarrhea in post-weaning dairy calves.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.173-186
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• 2000

This experiment was carried out to investigate the tendency of incident diseases in pre- and post- weaning piglets which ages were 1 to 7 weeks old by laboratory diagnosis and in order to minimize death in preweaning piglets and of stunted growth in postweaning piglets. The result of this experiment used as the basic data for the preventive programs in pre- and post- weaning piglets and were as follows: 23 different diseases diagnosed in 331 cases were studied in relation to age, season, and etiology. The most prevelent diseases of pre- and post- weaning piglet were Colibacillosis(79 case, 23.9%) and the major diseases were Salmonellosis(44 cases, 13.3%), Anemia(37 cases, 11.2%). Unknown viral disease(20 case, 6.1%), Rota viral infection(19 case, 5.8%), Porcine reproductive & respiratory syndrome(PRRS; 15 case 4.5%), Transmissible gastroenteritis(TGE; 12 case, 3.6%). The gastrointestinal disease, such as Colibacillosis, Salmonellosis, Swine dysentery, Clostridial infection, Rotaviral infection, TGE, Porcine epidemic diarrhea(PED) and Ballantidiosis occured pro- dominently in the period of pre- and post- weaning, which were 178 cases(53.8%) and not related to occurrence according to age and season. The respiratory diseases were Atrophic rhinitis(AR), Swine enzootic pneumonia, Pneumonic pasteurellosis, Pleuropneumonia, Branchopneumonia, PRRS and which were 48 cases(14.5%) and higher prevalent in spring and summer. The viral diseases was 73 cases(22.1%) that occurred in the period of 5 weeks piglet and prevalent mainly in spring. The bacterial diseases were 188 cases(56.8%) that were not related to occurrence according to age and season. Salmonellosis was prevalent in 3 to 5 weeks piglet and mainly occurred in summer. Viral septicemia and rotaviral infection occurred after 5 weeks piglets intensively and 3 to 5 weeks, respectively. And the both occurred without relation with season. PRRS occurred after 4 weeks piglet and prevalent in summer. TGE occurred 1 to 7 days old piglets and prevalent in spring and winter. Hematologic values of anemia was decrease in number of Red Blood Cell, concentration of Hemoglobin and Hematocrit. Amikacin, cephalothin, colistin, norfloxacin were effective to E coli, and amikacin, cephalothin, nortloxacin, neomycin were effective to Salmonellra spp. but clindamycin, erythromycin, penicillin, sulfonamides were resistant to E coli and Salmonella spp.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.48 no.6
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• pp.871-880
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• 2006

This study was conducted to estimate the maximum amount and time of milk consumption by Holstein calves during two months of pre- weaning period and to compare ad libitum milk feeding with conventional system for their effects on dry feed consumption, nutrient intake, growth performance and occurrence of diarrhea during the pre-weaning phase. Holstein calves (n=20) were alternatively fed colostrum at 10% of their body weight or ad libitum for the first three days (d) and then assigned either to conventional (n=10; calves were fed milk at 10% of their body weight from birth to weaning at d 60 of their age) or ad libitum milk feeding (n=10; calves were fed ad libitum milk from birth to weaning at d 60 of their age). Milk intake as a percent of body weight was increased in ad libitum fed calves from 13.59% at d 1 to 23.50% at d 30 of their age, thereafter it was gradually reduced. Ad libitum fed calves consumed daily 9.8kg milk compared with 4.3kg milk in restricted fed calves(p<0.05). Daily starter and mixed grass hay intake was gradually increased in both groups with the age however; the group differences were noted non-significant up to 40 d of age. Overall from birth to weaning conventionally fed calves ate 18.4, 20 and 18.9% more dry matter, crude protein and total digestible nutrients, respectively than ad libitum milk fed calves (p<0.05). Weight gain was 49, 18.4 and 26% higher in ad libitum milk fed calves than conventionally fed calves during the first month, the second month and from birth to weaning, respectively(p<0.05). Body weight was not significantly different between groups for the first 20 d of age. However, it was significantly higher for ad libitum milk fed calves at d 30, 40, 50, 60 (weaning) and 90 (post weaning) of their age(p<0.05). Similar body weights for both conventionally and ad libitum milk fed calves were observed for the post weaning period at 120, 150 and 180 d of age. Feed efficiency was significantly higher for conventionally fed calves than ad libitum milk fed calves(p<0.05). No sign of diarrhea, fever or cough was observed in calves fed either conventionally or ad libitum milk during the experimental period. In conclusion, calves fed more milk remained healthy and gained higher weight before weaning and maintained this advantage at least up to 90 d of their age.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.53 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 2013

Field efficacy of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli-specific phage (${\Phi}CJ19$) as a feed additive was evaluated in weaning piglets. Fifty-four piglets at 3-4 weeks old were allocated in three different groups and two of them were fed with bacteriophage at different concentrations ($10^6PFU/kg$ feed and $10^8PFU/kg$ feed, respectively) for 30 days. Body weight and feed intake were measured at 10 days interval and body condition and fecal score were inspected every day. Based on the measurement, feed conversion rate (FCR) and average daily gain (ADG) of each group during 30 days were analyzed. The analysis suggests that the bacteriophage may help the improvement of FCR and ADG at $10^8PFU/kg$ of bacteriophage feeding group in 30 days. A result from analysis of fecal score indicates that the bacteriophage also may help to relieve the intermittent diarrhea in post-weaning stage. Those results suggest that bacteriophage might help the growth of piglets in post-weaning stage.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.16-22
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• 2016

The intestinal environment plays a critical role in maintaining swine health. Many factors such as diet, microbiota, and host intestinal immune response influence the intestinal environment. Intestinal alkaline phosphatase (IAP) is an important apical brush border enzyme that is influenced by these factors. IAP dephosphorylates bacterial lipopolysaccharides (LPS), unmethylated cytosine-guanosine dinucleotides, and flagellin, reducing bacterial toxicity and consequently regulating toll-like receptors (TLRs) activation and inflammation. It also desphosphorylates extracellular nucleotides such as uridine diphosphate and adenosine triphosphate, consequently reducing inflammation, modulating, and preserving the homeostasis of the intestinal microbiota. The apical localization of IAP on the epithelial surface reveals its role on LPS (from luminal bacteria) detoxification. As the expression of IAP is reported to be downregulated in piglets at weaning, LPS from commensal and pathogenic gram-negative bacteria could increase inflammatory processes by TLR-4 activation, increasing diarrhea events during this phase. Although some studies had reported potential IAP roles to promote gut health, investigations about exogenous IAP effects or feed additives modulating IAP expression and activity yet are necessary. However, we discussed in this paper that the critical assessment reported can suggest that exogenous IAP or feed additives that could increase its expression could show beneficial effects to reduce diarrhea events during the post weaning phase. Therefore, the main goals of this review are to discuss IAP's role in intestinal inflammatory processes and present feed additives used as growth promoters that may modulate IAP expression and activity to promote gut health in piglets.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1653-1662
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• 2021

Objective: This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of insoluble cellulose supplementation to diets on the growth performance, intestinal morphology, the incidence of diarrhea, nutrients digestibility, and inflammatory responses in altering environmental conditions of animals housing. Methods: A total of 108 male pigs (Duroc×[Yorkshire×Landrace]) were randomly allocated to one of three dietary treatments (cellulose 0%, 1%, 2%) and two environmental conditions (good sanitary condition vs. poor sanitary condition) to give 6 replicate pens per treatment with three pigs per each pen at 14 days post-weaning. Results: Pigs were in good sanitary condition had higher average daily gain (p<0.01) and improved feed efficiency (p<0.05) from day 1 to 14 after weaning compared to their counterparts. The interactions were found between environmental conditions and dietary treatments (day 7: crypt depth [p<0.01], villous height to crypt depth [p<0.001]; day 14: crypt depth [p<0.001], villous to crypt ratio [p<0.01]) in ileum morphology. Crypt depth was decreased (p<0.05), and villous to crypt ratio was increased (p<0.05) only in poor sanitary conditions. Pigs exposed to the good sanitary condition had higher (p<0.05) apparent ileal digestibility (day 7, gross energy; day 14, dry matter), apparent total tract digestibility (day 14, dry matter and crude protein) compared to pigs housed in the poor sanitary condition. Meanwhile, pigs fed a diet supplemented with 2% cellulose had decreased (p<0.05) apparent ileal digestibility (day 7, dry matter; day 14, crude protein), apparent total tract digestibility (day 7, dry matter; day 14, crude protein, gross energy) compared to pigs fed a diet supplemented with 0% or 1% cellulose. Conclusion: Our results indicated that a diet supplemented with 1% cellulose increased villous to crypt ratio, however feeding a diet containing cellulose (1% or 2%) impaired nutrient digestibility for 14 day after weaning in both good sanitary and poor sanitary conditions.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.265-271
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• 2010

Post-weaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) is a new emerging disease affecting nursery and growing pigs in worldwide. Porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV-2) is a most important pathogen associated with PMWS. This study was carried out to investigate the pathological changes in the pancreas of pigs diagnosed as PMWS. To detect the PCV-2 antigen and nucleic acid in the tissue, immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was conducted, respectively. 24 pigs of 4-10 weeks old showed clinical signs of PMWS such as chronic wasting, respiratory distress and diarrhea were examined. Histopathologically, interstitial and periductular mononuclear cells infiltration were observed in pancreas. Multifocal to diffuse necrosis of acinar tissues or necrotizing to granulomatous pancreastitis with numerous syncytial cells infiltration were examined in severe cases. PCV-2 nucleic acid was detected from all tested pancreas using PCR. The PCV-2 antigen in 12 pancreas sections was detected by immunohistochemical staining. PCV-2 has a tropism for vascular endothelial cells and infiltrated macrophages. Although gross lesions are uncommon in the pancreas of pigs with PMWS, histopathological changes and the presence of PCV-2 in this tissue may be related to clinical signs associated with digestive disorders.