• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.173-181
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• 1984

This paper dealt with the histopathological observations of the perirenal edema in pigs and rabbits administered with Amaranthus retroflexus, based on the clinical and pathological observations of the porcine perirenal edema naturally occurred in Korea. The results observed are summarized as follows; In the natural case, clinical signs were trembling, weakness and incoordination of the hindquarters, followed by sternal recumbency, coma and death. Death usually occurred within 24 hours after the signs of illness appeared. In gross findings, the grayish yellow fluid in the perirenal area was observed in each case. In some cases, the amount of fluid in the thoracic and abdominal cavities was increased and the yellowish red color of the hydrothorax and ascites was seen. When the renal capsule was incised, the kidneys were enlarged and congested and petechiae on the cortical surface and blood clots on the capsule appeared. In microscopical findings, there were cloudy swelling, hyaline droplets and necrosis of the convoluted tubules containing proteinaceous casts and a few oxalate crystals. In addition, interstitial and perivascular edema, distention of the Bowman's space and the convluted tubules and hemorrhages were recognized. In the weanling pigs and the adult pig fed various weeds, including Amaranthus retroflexus, Euxolus blitum and Portulaca oleracea, the pigs fed Amaranthus retroflexus appeared clinical signs and pathological findings of perirenal edema usually seen in the pigs of natural cases. In the pigs fed Euxolus blitum or fed Portulaca oleracea, neither clinical signs nor pathological changes were seen. It was regarded that this disease was affected with Amaranthus retroflexus, but there was no sensitivity in the adult pigs.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1491-1498
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• 2021

Objective: This research was carried out to investigate the effects of corn particle size on the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy and nutrients fed to pigs at four different growth stages and therefore to provide basis for better application of corn in pig feeds. Methods: Eighteen weanling piglets, 18 growing barrows, 24 gestating sows and 24 lactating sows were used in this study. Within each stage, pigs were allotted to 1 of 3 or 4 corn-soybean meal diets which were formulated with different corn particle size in a completely randomized design with 6 replicate pigs per diet. Each stage lasted for 19 days, including 7 days for cages adaptation, 7 days for adaptation to diets and followed by 5 days for total collection of feces and urine. Results: For nursery and growing stages, the results showed that digestible energy content and ATTD of gross energy (GE), dry matter (DM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and acid detergent fiber (ADF) was increased (p<0.05) as the corn particle size reduced. Meanwhile, the metabolizable energy content and ATTD of crude protein (CP) tended to increase. For gestating sows, no differences were found in the ATTD of nutrients among dietary treatments. As for lactating sows, there were linear and quadratic increases (p<0.05) in the ATTD of DM, GE, NDF as the corn being finer milled. Quadratic response in ATTD of ADF and CP (p<0.05) were observed as sows fed with four different diets. Conclusion: Reducing corn particle size can increase digestibility of nutrients fed to young pigs and lactating sows. No effects were observed in present experiment when gestating sows were fed with different particle sized corn.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.131-148
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• 2010

Piglet health at weaning is compromised due to several stress factors. Following the ban of antibiotic growth promoters new alternatives are required to control these problems. This paper reviews the evidence available for the use of spray dried animal plasma (SDAP) as an alternative to antibiotics in weaning pigs. Data from 75 trials in 43 publications involving over 12,000 piglets (mean values) have been used to calculate the performance responses of piglets according to several factors including SDAP origin, protein source from the control diet being replaced, dose of inclusion, age and weight of the piglets at weaning, sanitary conditions and simultaneous use or not of medication. Although the use of SDAP of all origins results in positive responses, it appears that plasma from porcine origin has the highest efficacy. This could be explained by the specificity of its IgG against porcine pathogens. During the first week post-weaning the response to plasma appears to increase with the inclusion dose, although over the two-week pre-starter period an optimal inclusion level of 4-8% is suggested. SDAP improves feed efficiency more markedly when the piglets are challenged with an experimental infection or when feed does not contain medication, which could be indicative of a lower expenditure of energy and nutrients to build an immune response against the challenge. There is evidence supporting that SDAP IgG and other bioactive substances therein prevent the binding of pathogens to the gut wall and reduce the incidence of diarrhoea in the post-weaning phase. Overall, plasma can be postulated as an excellent alternative to in-feed antimicrobials for piglets in the post-weaning phase.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.565-572
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• 2005

An experiment was conducted to determine the effect of supplementation of insoluble dietary fiber (Vitacel®) on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in weanling pigs. A total of 96 pigs that averaged 6.49$\pm$0.52kg BW and 23$\pm$2.1d age were allocated in a randomized block design with two pigs per pen and 12 pens per treatment. Pigs and feeders were weighed 10-days interval for the 40-d trials to determine ADG, ADFI and feed:gain ratio(F:G). Pigs were fed one of four diets:1) Control diet (C) 2) C+0.3% insoluble dietary fiber(IDF) 3) C+0.6% IDF and 4) c+0.9% IDF. For the determination of fecal nutrients digestibility, pigs were fed diets(diet 2) with 1% Celite-545(Fluka) as a marker and feces were collected on $9^{th}$ day and $18^{th}$ day after feeding diet 2. During the whole experimental period, pigs fed diet with 0.3% IDF have significantly higher ADG than other dietary treatment groups(P<0.05). ADG of pigs fed diet with 0.6% IDF was higher than that of pigs fed control diet(P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference in ADG between control group and 0.9% IDF group(P>0.05). ADFI of pigs fed diet with 0.3% IDF was significantly higher than any other dietary treatment groups(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in ADFI among control group, 0.6% and 0.9% IDF supplementation groups (P>0.05). Digestibilities of organic matter, crude protein, crude fiber and energy were significantly higher in 0.3% IDF supplementation group than any other dietary groups. However, there was no difference in over all nutrient digestibilities between 0.6% and 0.9% IDF group. Feeding diets more than 0.6% IDF did not affect the rest of the nutrients digestibilities except for ADF digestibility compared to control diet. Dietary supplementation level of IDF showed a significant quadratic effect on performance improvement of piglets. This response of growth performance to IDF supplementation is, as expected, in agreement with that of nutrient digestibility. Our results showed that IDF supplementation to diet for weaned piglets might be beneficial in terms of growth and nutrient digestibility. However, there should be more study on the relationship between level of IDF supplementation and piglet response as well as the exact mode of action of IDF in weaned piglets.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.25 no.11
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• pp.1595-1604
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• 2012

Two studies were conducted to investigate the effects of anti-diarrhoeal herbs on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and meat quality in pigs. In Exp 1, 150 weanling-growing piglets (average BW = $7.5{\pm}0.24$ kg, average age = $27{\pm}1$ d) were allotted into one of the five dietary treatments, including: i) CON, basal diet, ii) DP, basal diet+1 g/kg date pits, iii) JH, basal diet+0.5 g/kg Japanese-honeysuckle, iv) HCT, basal diet+1 g/kg houttuynia cordata thunb, and v) LE, basal diet+1 g/kg laquer tree extract. From wk 0 to 5, the JH, HCT and LE groups presented higher (p<0.05) ADFI, ADG and gain/feed ratio (G/F) than CON and DP groups. During wk 5 to 10, Pigs fed JH, HCT and LE diets indicated higher (p<0.05) ADG and ADFI than the pigs fed CON and DP diets. During the entire experimental period, a significant increase of ADG appeared in JH, HCT and LE (p<0.05). Pigs fed JH, HCT and LE diets got a higher (p<0.05) ADFI than the pigs fed CON and DP diets. Pigs fed diets with supplementations of herb additives revealled lower (p<0.05) score of diarrhea pigs during d 2 to d 6 compared with pigs fed CON diet. In Exp 2, 60 growing-finishing barrows and gilts (average BW = $54.10{\pm}1.20$ kg, average age = $54{\pm}3$ d) were allotted to three treatments: i) CON, basal diet; ii) YG, basal diet+1 g/kg yellow ginger and iii) HR, basal dietary+1 g/kg hoantchy root, respectively. From wk 0 to 5, Dietary supplementation of YG and HR enhanced (p<0.05) ADG. No difference was found between YG and HR treatments. During, wk 5 to 10, ADG also was observed higher in YG and HR treatments than CON group (p<0.05). Additional, YG had the highest ADG (p<0.05) among treatments. There was always an increase of ADG in YG and HR (p<0.05) through all periods. HR treatment showed a lower (p<0.05) score of diarrhoeal pigs on d 1and d 2 compared with CON treatment. Pigs fed YG and HR diets had a higher (p<0.05) longissimus muscle area (LMA) than pigs fed CON diet. In conclusion, anti-diarrhoeal herbs can improve growth performance, and prevent diarrhea incidence in pigs, it can also increase LMA in finishing pigs.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.1635-1640
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• 2004

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate developmental gene expression of antimicrobial peptide PR-39 and effect of zinc oxide on gene regulation of PR-39 in piglets using semi-quantitative RT-PCR analysis. In experiment 1, fifteen female Tai-Hu pigs (a local breed in China) in five groups, each of three pigs at 1, 14, 28, 42 and 56 days of age were used to determine effect of age and weaning on mRNA expression of PR-39. In experiment 2, nine groups of pigs (total seventy-two female 36 days-age weanling Tai-Hu piglets) were assigned to three treatments (${ZnO}_0$, ${ZnO}_{100}$ and ${ZnO}_{3000}$). The feeding experimental period lasted 15 days. After feeding experiment, nine pigs with three animals in each treatment were chosen to determine the effect of ZnO on PR-39 mRNA expression of pigs. The results showed that PR-39 mRNA levels increased steadily in postnatal day 1-28 (preweaning), and weaning significantly decreased PR-39 mRNA expression of piglets (p<0.05). ${ZnO}_{3000}$ (3,000 mg zinc/kg diet) significantly increased PR-39 mRNA expression (p<0.05) when piglets were feed ${ZnO}_{3000}$ diet for 15 days. ${ZnO}_{100}$ (100 mg zinc/kg diet) also increased PR-39 gene expression, but the result was not statistically significant (p>0.05). The result was in accordance with the effect of ${ZnO}_{3000}$ and ${ZnO}_{100}$ on weight gain of piglets and prevention of diarrhea.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.77-85
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• 2017

A total of 120 weaning pigs [(Landrace ${\times}$ Yorkshire) ${\times}$ Duroc] with an average body weight of $8.95{\pm}0.88kg$ were used in this study to investigate the influence of supplementation of combined flavor and sweetener. The diets included: 1) TRT1, basal diet, 2) TRT2, TRT1 + 500 mg/kg flavor, 3) TRT3, TRT1 + 150 mg/kg sweetener, and 4) TRT4, TRT1 + 500 mg/kg flavor + 150 mg/kg sweetener. The TRT4 treatment produced a higher average daily gain (ADG) than that in the other treatments on d 0 - 14 and the whole experimental period (p < 0.05). The TRT1 and TRT2 treatments gave a lower average daily feed intake (ADFI) than that of TRT4 on d 0 - 14 and d 0 - 42 (p < 0.05). On d 15 - 42, TRT4 had a higher ADFI than that of TRT1 (p < 0.05). Compared to TRT1, dry matter (DM), gross energy (GE), and nitrogen (N) digestibility increased in pigs fed the TRT4 diet (p < 0.05) on d 14. Serum norepinephrine concentration in TRT1 treatment was higher (p < 0.05) than that in TRT4 treatment at 72 h after weaning. On d 0 - 7, diarrhea score decreased in TRT4 treatment compared with TRT1 and TRT2 treatments. In conclusion, flavor and sweetener complex addition improved ADG and ADFI as well as DM, N, and GE digestibility in weanling pigs. This supplementation in pigs' diets decreased the serum norepinephrine concentration at 72 h after weaning and the diarrhea score during the first week of weaning.

• 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.1 no.2
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• pp.89-98
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• 1988

Three experiments were conducted to determine whether cobalt (Co) or nickel (Ni) could prevent zinc (Zn) deficiency signs in pigs fed a high calcium (Ca) corn-soybean diet. The basal diet contained 1.3% Ca, .93% phytic acid and means of 34 to 48 ppm Zn. After weanling, pigs in experiment I were fed the basal diet for 9 weeks, and was found that 50 ppm Co or Ni for 5 weeks increased average daily weight gain (ADG) and reversed skin lesions toward normal. These effects were similar to those of 100 ppm supplemental Zn. The Zn content and alkaline phosphatase activity of serum from pigs supplemented with Co or Ni were higher at 2 weeks and 4 weeks (P<.05) than those of the basal group. Zn content of bone, liver and kidney, and alkaline phosphatase activity in bone were increase after 5 weeks of supplementation with Co or Ni. In experiments 2 and 3, addition of 54 ppm and 27 ppm of either Co or Ni increased (P<.05) ADG and decreased incidence of skin lesions except in one group supplemented with 27 ppm Ni. Supplemental Co or Ni increased Zn in serum and alkaline phosphatase activity in serum and bone in both experiments. Over all experiments, supplemental Co or Ni decreased Zn deficiency signs in the following order of effectiveness: 54 ppm Co, 54 ppm Ni, 27 ppm Co and 27 ppm Ni. The alleviation of signs of Zn deficiency by Co or Ni may have been the result of increased availability of dietary Zn.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.872-876
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• 2006

The objective of this study was to evaluate Biocom (a protein source containing a high level of glutamine and alanyl-glutamine) as a replacement for glutamine (Gln) in nursery pig diets. Forty-two pigs (fourteen pigs per treatment) weaned at 28 d of age were used in a 28-d performance trial using three dietary treatments: control (no Gln), control supplemented with Gln or Biocom. The control diet was composed of corn, soybean meal, whey and fish meal. Individual body weight, pen feed disappearance and diarrhea were monitored. On d 0, 2, 7 and 14 postweaning, respectively, five pigs per treatment were selected and bled from the anterior vena cava to obtain five replicate samples of blood on each dietary treatment for determination of blood biochemical index. Dietary supplementation of Gln and Biocom did not influence performance, plasma Gln and total serum protein concentration (p>0.05). However, the addition of Gln and Biocom could prevent serum urea nitrogen and serum cortisol from increasing on d 2 postweaning (p<0.05). There were no significant differences (p>0.05) in any of the examined parameters between Gln- and Biocom-supplemented diets. In conclusion, dietary Gln did not influence the performance of early-weaned piglets owing to the complex diet containing whey, but could prevent the increase of serum urea and cortisol. Biocom could be used as a replacement for free pure Gln without any negative effect on early-weaned piglets.