Pigs challenged with F-18 Coli had higher survival and performance when fed diets containing spray dried porcine plasma

J. Polo1, J. Campbell1, Y. Shen1, L. Rangel1, J. Crenshaw1*

1APC LLC, Ankeny, IA

Diagnosed cases of enterotoxigenic E. coli (ETEC) have increased in recent years and traditional medication protocols appear to be less effective in controlling the re-emergence of ETEC outbreaks. Recent reports suggest that current strains of ETEC have developed more resistance to medications approved for use in swine.

Studies with spray dried porcine plasma (SDP) in feed for weaned pigs challenged with various strains of ETEC have reported improved growth performance and reduced mortality and diarrhea [1-3]. The objectives of this study were to determine if dietary spray dried porcine plasma (SDPP) improved survival and growth of weaned pigs challenged with an isolated strain of F-18 ETEC.

Materials and Methods

Sixty-five 21 d old male pigs (PIC 800 boar x 1050 sow) sensitive to F-18 ETEC and negative for PRRSV, PEDV, SIV and Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae were distributed in 6 pens (5 pigs/pen) assigned a control diet and 7 pens (5 pigs/pen) assigned a SDPP diet. Pigs were fed antimicrobial-free diets based on corn, soybean meal, whey and either 4.12% soy protein isolate or 5% UV-SDPP. The different diets were fed to pigs housed in separate rooms for the entire 21-day study. Per study protocol medical interventions including electrolytes were prohibited to reduce potential confounding effects on dietary protein source differences. All pigs were challenged with F-18 ETEC on day 7 and individual pig fecal swabs were collected day 2, 6, 9 and 14 post-challenge, incubated and plated using a semi-quantification
method (0 to 4 score) to measure F-18 excretion. Body weight change and survival were determined.

Results

Survival was improved 63% (P = 0.0885) for pigs fed diets with SDPP versus Control (Fig. 1). Surviving pigs fed SDPP diet were 1.4 kg heavier at day 21 than surviving pigs fed control diet (Table 1). On day 2 post-challenge, the fecal excretion quantified score for F-18 ETEC was reduced (P < 0.05) for pigs fed SDPP (2.314) versus control diet (3.172).

Table 1 Body weight at different study periods

Figure 1 Survival percentage per group during the study

Discussion

Under these experimental F-18 ETEC challenge conditions with no medical interventions allowed, pigs fed the SDPP diet had better survival and final body weight with lower F-18 ETEC excretion in feces. Results suggest that dietary SDPP can be used as part of a health management protocol to reduce the severity of F-18 related ETEC outbreaks.

References