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Influence of Housing Conditions on Reliability of Immunocastration and Consequences for Growth Performance of Male Pigs

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Surgical castration of male piglets is societally criticized as it is painful and violates the integrity of the animals. Pork production with boars and immunocastrates are possible alternatives. Even if immunocastration is an animal-welfare-friendly alternative, its market share is l...

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Autores principales: Kress, Kevin, Weiler, Ulrike, Schmucker, Sonja, Čandek-Potokar, Marjeta, Vrecl, Milka, Fazarinc, Gregor, Škrlep, Martin, Batorek-Lukač, Nina, Stefanski, Volker
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7022942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31877705
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10010027
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author Kress, Kevin
Weiler, Ulrike
Schmucker, Sonja
Čandek-Potokar, Marjeta
Vrecl, Milka
Fazarinc, Gregor
Škrlep, Martin
Batorek-Lukač, Nina
Stefanski, Volker
author_facet Kress, Kevin
Weiler, Ulrike
Schmucker, Sonja
Čandek-Potokar, Marjeta
Vrecl, Milka
Fazarinc, Gregor
Škrlep, Martin
Batorek-Lukač, Nina
Stefanski, Volker
author_sort Kress, Kevin
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: Surgical castration of male piglets is societally criticized as it is painful and violates the integrity of the animals. Pork production with boars and immunocastrates are possible alternatives. Even if immunocastration is an animal-welfare-friendly alternative, its market share is low and the reliability of this technique is discussed controversially within the pork chain. Currently, the number and the reason for non-responders to vaccination are not clear. Various factors may contribute to impaired immune response including adverse and stressful housing conditions. This study, therefore, examines the influence of different housing conditions on the immune response after two Improvac(®) vaccinations. To determine vaccination success, testosterone concentrations, GnRH-binding, and boar taint compounds were evaluated. Furthermore, the growth performance of male pigs was compared. The results show that immunocastration is reliable under different housing systems and prevents boar taint. Moreover, the growth performance of immunocastrates is high and even superior to that of boars and barrows after the 2nd vaccination. Accordingly, immunocastration is not only animal-welfare-friendly but also economically attractive and suitable for different housing systems. ABSTRACT: Immunocastration is a sustainable alternative to piglet castration but faces limited market acceptance. The phenomenon of non-responders has not to date been examined in detail, but adverse and stressful housing conditions (e.g., mixing of groups) might impair the success of vaccinations. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of housing conditions on the immune response after two Improvac(®) vaccinations at an age of 12 and 22 weeks, respectively. Boars, immunocastrates and barrows (n = 48 each) were assigned to three different housing conditions (n = 36 enriched, n = 36 standard n = 72 repeated social mixing). Immune response was quantified by measuring GnRH-binding and its consequences for testosterone concentrations, development of the genital tract and boar taint. Growth performance was evaluated via average daily gain (ADG). GnRH-binding and testosterone levels revealed that immunocastration reliably suppressed testicular functions after the 2nd vaccination. Housing conditions did not modify testicular function but influenced ADG as animals under mixing grew slower than those under enriched conditions. Gonadal status had only a slight impact on ADG except in immunocastrates, which showed a temporarily higher ADG after the 2nd vaccination. The results show that immunocastration is a reliable procedure under different housing conditions and competitive in terms of growth performance.
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spelling pubmed-70229422020-03-12 Influence of Housing Conditions on Reliability of Immunocastration and Consequences for Growth Performance of Male Pigs Kress, Kevin Weiler, Ulrike Schmucker, Sonja Čandek-Potokar, Marjeta Vrecl, Milka Fazarinc, Gregor Škrlep, Martin Batorek-Lukač, Nina Stefanski, Volker Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: Surgical castration of male piglets is societally criticized as it is painful and violates the integrity of the animals. Pork production with boars and immunocastrates are possible alternatives. Even if immunocastration is an animal-welfare-friendly alternative, its market share is low and the reliability of this technique is discussed controversially within the pork chain. Currently, the number and the reason for non-responders to vaccination are not clear. Various factors may contribute to impaired immune response including adverse and stressful housing conditions. This study, therefore, examines the influence of different housing conditions on the immune response after two Improvac(®) vaccinations. To determine vaccination success, testosterone concentrations, GnRH-binding, and boar taint compounds were evaluated. Furthermore, the growth performance of male pigs was compared. The results show that immunocastration is reliable under different housing systems and prevents boar taint. Moreover, the growth performance of immunocastrates is high and even superior to that of boars and barrows after the 2nd vaccination. Accordingly, immunocastration is not only animal-welfare-friendly but also economically attractive and suitable for different housing systems. ABSTRACT: Immunocastration is a sustainable alternative to piglet castration but faces limited market acceptance. The phenomenon of non-responders has not to date been examined in detail, but adverse and stressful housing conditions (e.g., mixing of groups) might impair the success of vaccinations. Therefore, we evaluated the influence of housing conditions on the immune response after two Improvac(®) vaccinations at an age of 12 and 22 weeks, respectively. Boars, immunocastrates and barrows (n = 48 each) were assigned to three different housing conditions (n = 36 enriched, n = 36 standard n = 72 repeated social mixing). Immune response was quantified by measuring GnRH-binding and its consequences for testosterone concentrations, development of the genital tract and boar taint. Growth performance was evaluated via average daily gain (ADG). GnRH-binding and testosterone levels revealed that immunocastration reliably suppressed testicular functions after the 2nd vaccination. Housing conditions did not modify testicular function but influenced ADG as animals under mixing grew slower than those under enriched conditions. Gonadal status had only a slight impact on ADG except in immunocastrates, which showed a temporarily higher ADG after the 2nd vaccination. The results show that immunocastration is a reliable procedure under different housing conditions and competitive in terms of growth performance. MDPI 2019-12-21 /pmc/articles/PMC7022942/ /pubmed/31877705 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10010027 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kress, Kevin
Weiler, Ulrike
Schmucker, Sonja
Čandek-Potokar, Marjeta
Vrecl, Milka
Fazarinc, Gregor
Škrlep, Martin
Batorek-Lukač, Nina
Stefanski, Volker
Influence of Housing Conditions on Reliability of Immunocastration and Consequences for Growth Performance of Male Pigs
title Influence of Housing Conditions on Reliability of Immunocastration and Consequences for Growth Performance of Male Pigs
title_full Influence of Housing Conditions on Reliability of Immunocastration and Consequences for Growth Performance of Male Pigs
title_fullStr Influence of Housing Conditions on Reliability of Immunocastration and Consequences for Growth Performance of Male Pigs
title_full_unstemmed Influence of Housing Conditions on Reliability of Immunocastration and Consequences for Growth Performance of Male Pigs
title_short Influence of Housing Conditions on Reliability of Immunocastration and Consequences for Growth Performance of Male Pigs
title_sort influence of housing conditions on reliability of immunocastration and consequences for growth performance of male pigs
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7022942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31877705
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani10010027
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