Page 4 of articles about environment in Abstracts

One of the key components of survival in alternative, loose-housed farrowing systems is maternal behaviour and understanding the characteristics of sows that influence survival in such environments should be an essential component when developing new breeding indices.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of incorporation into pig diets of 20% of different co-products from the biofuel industries on animal growth performance, on N and carbon C excretions, and on the subsequent ammonia volatilisation and methane production during the storage of slurry.

Under ad libitum feeding, a low crude protein amino acid supplemented diet can reduce N excretion in manure with no impact on animal growth.

Offering pigs a low-P diet from 10 to 100 kg BW lead to reductions in P excretion, however, growth performance and bone mineralization were compromised.

Offering a purified source of β-glucans resulted in beneficial reductions in odorous volatile fatty acids in the distal gastrointestinal tract and in excreted manure, and may reflect improvements in N digestibility.

To quantify the combined effect of housing conditions and environmental enrichment on the behaviour and performance of pigs, a meta-analysis was performed using information from 45 experiments in 42 published manuscripts.

The results of the present study suggest that synbiotics exert similar effects with antibiotics on the nutrient digestibility and fecal microflora composition in growing pigs. Moreover, synbiotics can also decrease the fecal noxious gas emission in growing pigs.

Under the conditions of this study, finishing environment alters performance, carcass merit, and meat quality of pigs of similar genetic merit. Farms with differing types of finishing facilities should account for finishing environment in the development of their finishing management protocols.

The objectives of this field survey were to evaluate the effects of several promising swine waste-management and treatment technologies on reducing Salmonella presence and populations and to characterize the diversity of Salmonella isolates recovered from the waste streams using serotyping and antibiotic-susceptibility analysis.

From 2012, feeds for organically farmed pigs must consist of 100% organic ingredients. Pea protein concentrate and rapeseed protein concentrate may be attractive high-protein ingredients for piglet feeds. This is the conclusion from research by Wageningen UR Livestock Research into the digestibility and nutritional value of a number of high-protein ingredients for organically farmed weaned piglets.

Castration is notably used to reduce pigs’ aggressiveness towards humans and facilitate handling. However, there are no scientific data to confirm this. We compared entire and castrated male pigs reared in a conventional or an enriched environment.

The reduction of protein levels from weaning till slaughter, in keeping with the current French recommendations to reduce pollution (CORPEN, 2003), was evaluated in a feeding trial.

The objectives of this study were to compare the impact of three control strategies of temperature set point on grower‐finisher pigs and their growth performance, ammonia emissions, and heating energy consumption under Québec conditions.

A total of 16 crossbred (Large White × Landrace) castrated male pigs averaging 30.0 ± 2.5 kg were used in two trials (2 × 8 pigs) to determine apparent nutrient digestibility. The control group received feed mixture consisting of wheat and barley. In the experimental group, 3% proportion of wheat was replaced by sodium humate.

The use of hulless low-phytate barley may improve nutrient digestibly reducing environmental pollution.

In the European Union, the group-housed pregnant sows have to have a minimal legal available area of 2.25 m2/sow. However, it has been observed that an increased space allowance reduces agonistic behaviour and consecutive wounds and thus induces better welfare conditions. But, what about the environmental impacts of this greater available area?