Factors influencing colostrum consumption of piglets and levels of immunoglobulin G and immunoglobulin A specifically against PED virus in colostrum of sows

Abstract

The aims of the present study was to investigate factors associated with colostrum consumption of the neonatal piglets and determine the concentrations of total immunoglobulins G (IgG) and immunoglobulins A (IgA) against porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) virus in colostrum for sow. The study consisted of two parts: Part I, the study included data of colostrum consumption from 1,140 neonatal piglets from 80 sows. Factors associated with piglet’s colostrum consumption included body weight at birth of the piglet, birth order, birth interval, heart rate, blood oxygen saturation, rectal temperature at 24 h, gestation length, total born, born alive, sow body conditions score and sow parity number. The association among these factors and colostrum consumption of the piglets was analyzed by using Pearson’s correlation. Part II was performed 81 Landrace x Yorkshire crossbred sows. Colostrum were randomly collected from the sows twice after farrowing. The time interval from the onset of farrowing until colostrum collection was classified into 2 groups, i.e., 0 and >6 hour and also classified according to parity number of sows into 4 groups, i.e., 1 (n=19), 2 (n=30), 3-5 (n=30) and 6-8 (n=20). The concentrations of immunoglobulins in colostrum was determined by ELISA. The results revealed that the colostrum consumption averaged 404.7 ± 183.35 grams. Mean of body weight at birth of the piglet (r=0.29, P<0.001), birth order (r = -0.22, P<0.001), total born (r=-0.21, P<0.001), born alive (r=-0.19, P<0.001), body conditions score (r=0.06, P<0.05), heart rate (r=0.11, P<0.05) and rectal temperature (r=0.30, P<0.001) were significantly correlated with colostrum consumption of the neonatal piglets. The concentration of IgA in multiparous sows was significantly higher than primiparous sows (8.58 vs 6.34, P= 0.012). On the other hand, gestation length, birth interval, blood oxygen saturation were not correlated with colostrum consumption. Sows parity numbers 6-8 had a higher IgG concentration than sows parity numbers 3-5 (0.56 ± 0.08 vs 0.40 ± 0.06, P<0.05), respectively. In contrast, the IgA concentration was higher in primiparous sows (0.55 ± 0.07) and 2 (0.54 ± 0.06) than sows parity number 3-5 (0.41 ± 0.06, P<0.05). The concentration of IgG in the colostrum collected at >360 min after farrowing was lower than that in the colostrum collected at 0-60 min after farrowing (P<0.05). In conclusion, the body weight at birth of the piglet, birth order, litter size, body conditions score, heart rate and rectal temperature (°C) were significantly associated with piglet colostrum consumption in the swine herd. The concentrations of IgG and IgA against PED virus in the colostrum varied significantly among parity number of sows and time interval after farrowing. Old sows had a higher IgG concentration than young sows. The concentrations of both IgG and IgA in the colostrum was highest during the first hour of farrowing and significantly declined after 6 h.