Browsing by Author "Muns, Ramon"
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Item Allonursing in Wild and Farm Animals: Biological and Physiological Foundations and Explanatory Hypotheses(MDPI, 2021-10-29) Mota-Rojas, Daniel; Marcet-Rius, Míriam; Freitas-de-Melo, Aline; Muns, Ramon; Mora-Medina, Patricia; Domínguez-Oliva, Adriana; Orihuela, AgustínThe dams of gregarious animals must develop a close bond with their newborns to provide them with maternal care, including protection against predators, immunological transference, and nutrition. Even though lactation demands high energy expenditures, behaviors known as allonursing (the nursing of non-descendant infants) and allosuckling (suckling from any female other than the mother) have been reported in various species of wild or domestic, and terrestrial or aquatic animals. These behaviors seem to be elements of a multifactorial strategy, since reports suggest that they depend on the following: species, living conditions, social stability, and kinship relations, among other group factors. Despite their potential benefits, allonursing and allosuckling can place the health and welfare of both non-filial dams and alien offspring at risk, as it augments the probability of pathogen transmission. This review aims to analyze the biological and physiological foundations and bioenergetic costs of these behaviors, analyzing the individual and collective advantages and disadvantages for the dams’ own offspring(s) and alien neonate(s). We also include information on the animal species in which these behaviors occur and their implications on animal welfare.Item Assessment of Pain and Inflammation in Domestic Animals Using Infrared Thermography: A Narrative Review(MDPI, 2023-06-22) Whittaker, Alexandra L.; Muns, Ramon; Wang, Dehua; Martínez-Burnes, Julio; Hernández-Ávalos, Ismael; Casas-Alvarado, Alejandro; Domínguez-Oliva, Adriana; Mota-Rojas, DanielPain assessment in domestic animals has gained importance in recent years due to the recognition of the physiological, behavioral, and endocrine consequences of acute pain on animal production, welfare, and animal model validity. Current approaches to identifying acute pain mainly rely on behavioral-based scales, quantifying pain-related biomarkers, and the use of devices monitoring sympathetic activity. Infrared thermography is an alternative that could be used to correlate the changes in the superficial temperature with other tools and thus be an additional or alternate acute pain assessment marker. Moreover, its non-invasiveness and the objective nature of its readout make it potentially very valuable. However, at the current time, it is not in widespread use as an assessment strategy. The present review discusses scientific evidence for infrared thermography as a tool to evaluate pain, limiting its use to monitor acute pain in pathological processes and invasive procedures, as well as its use for perioperative monitoring in domestic animals.Item The effect of creep feed intake and starter diet allowance on piglets’ gut structure and growth performance after weaning(Oxford University Press, 7-09-20) Muns, Ramon; Magowan, ElizabethDiets offered to lactating and weaned piglets are the most expensive diets within pig production; however, the effect of these diets on lifetime pig performance is inconsistent. The objective of the current study was to investigate the impact of creep feed consumption during lactation and different starter diet allowances on piglets' gut structure and lifetime growth performance. In total, 320 pigs and 80 pigs (Landrace × Large White) were used after weaning in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement to study growth performance and gut structure, respectively. At weaning, piglets that ate creep feed and piglets that were not offered creep feed during lactation were allocated to 2 kg/pig [low level (LL)] or 6 kg/pig [high level (HL)] of starter 1 diet (16.5 MJ DE/kg, 22.5% CP, and 1.7% total Lys) allowance. At weaning and at 1 and 3 wk after weaning, 8 piglets per treatment were sacrificed, and their small intestine morphology was evaluated (villus height and crypt depth). Piglets that ate creep feed had increased feed intake during the first week after weaning (P < 0.05), but no effect of creep feed intake was observed on piglets growth or gut structure during the postweaning period (both P > 0.05). Piglets that were fed HL after weaning had higher ADG and BW from weaning to 16 wk after weaning (both P < 0.05) and had lower feed conversion ratio (FCR) from weaning to 6 wk after weaning (P < 0.05). Piglets fed HL after weaning also had higher villi height and greater crypt depth than LL piglets at 3 wk after weaning (both P < 0.05). Creep feed consumption during lactation increases feed intake early after weaning, suggesting an improved capacity of piglets to cope with weaning, but did not influence their growth performance. Offering piglets 6 kg of starter diet enhances piglets' growth performance during the growing and finishing phase, probably by improving gut structure after weaning.Item Effect of space allowance and mixing on growth performance and body lesions of grower-finisher pigs in pens with a single wet-dry feeder(Springer Science and Business Media, 2021-01-06) Camp Montoro, Jordi; Boyle, Laura Ann; Sola-Oriol, David; Muns, Ramon; Gasa, Josep; Garcia Manzanilla, EdgarBackground: Low space allowance (SA) and mixing may result in reduced growth performance (GP) and animal welfare issues because of adverse social behaviours directed to pen mates. This could be exacerbated in pens with single space feeders owing to social facilitation of feeding behaviour. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of SA and mixing on GP and body lesions (BL) in pens with one single space wet-dry feeder. Results: Two experiments were conducted on grower-finisher pigs from 10 to 21 weeks of age. In Exp1, pigs (N = 216) were assigned to three SA; 0.96m2/pig (n = 6 pens; 10 pigs/pen; SA96), 0.84m2/pig (n = 6; 12 pigs/pen; SA84) and 0.72m2/pig (n = 6; 14 pigs/pen; SA72), in a randomized design. In Exp2, pigs (N = 230) were used in a 2 × 2 factorial randomized design considering SA and mixing as treatments. Pigs were assigned to two SA; 0.96m2/pig (n = 10 pens; 10 pigs/pen; SA96) and 0.78 m2/pig (n = 10; 13 pigs/pen; SA78) and were either mixed or not at the entry to the finishing facility. GP was not affected by SA (P > 0.05) in either experiment. In Exp2, non-mixed pigs were 5.4 kg heavier (P < 0.001), gained 74 g more per day (P = 0.004), consumed 101.8 g more of feed per day (P = 0.007) and tended to have higher feed efficiency (P = 0.079) than mixed pigs from 11 to 21 weeks of age. Number of BL was affected by SA in both experiments. In Exp1, SA72 pigs had 74.4 and 97.4% more BL than SA96 and SA84 pigs at 20 weeks of age respectively (P < 0.01). In Exp2, SA78 pigs had 48.6, 43.6 and 101.3% more BL than SA96 pigs at 12, 16 and 21 weeks of age respectively (P < 0.05). Mixing did not affect the number of BL from 12 to 21 weeks of age in Exp2 (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Mixing had a considerable effect on growth performance thus, strategies to avoid or mitigate mixing should be considered. Although space allowance had no effect on growth performance, high number of body lesions in the lower space allowance indicates that space allowances equal or below 0.78 m2/pig are detrimental to the welfare of pigs despite following the EU legislation.Item The Environmental Impact of Lowering Dietary Crude Protein in Finishing Pig Diets—The Effect on Ammonia, Odour and Slurry Production(MDPI, 2022-09-23) Ball, Elizabeth; Smyth, Sam; Beattie, Violet E.; McCracken, Kelvin J.; McCormack, Ursula; Muns, Ramon; Gordon, Fred J.; Bradford, Raymond; Reid, L. Alanna; Magowan, ElizabethExcess nitrogen excretion, ammonia and odour are environmental pollutants associated with pig production. Reducing dietary crude protein (CP) will lower the amount of nitrogen excreted, reducing the potential for ammonia emissions, if diets are adequately formulated to supply amino acids and production performance is maintained. Crude protein content in diets for finishing pigs has been lowered recently, but the quantitative effect of this reduction on ammonia, odour, and slurry output is not well-established. The relationship between ammonia and odour is equivocal, and the effect on slurry production is unclear. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of lowering dietary CP on ammonia emission, odour emission and slurry output of finishing pigs. Thirty entire boar pigs were individually housed in groups of six, from 10 weeks of age (30 3.0 kg) and offered standard diets. At 75 kg ( 1.5 kg) pigs were assigned to one of three treatment diets; (1) 180 g/kg CP, 11.0 g/kg total lysine (High CP), (2) 150 g/kg CP, 11.1 g/kg total lysine (Medium CP), and (3) 130 g/kg CP, 9.0 g/kg total lysine (Low CP). After three weeks on the experimental diets pigs were moved, six each week, to individual calorimetry chambers to measure ammonia and odour emissions. Pigs were offered treatment diets ad libitum. At the end of the recording period, the pigs were removed from the chamber, weighed and feed disappearance recorded to calculate intake. The slurry in each chamber was collected and analysed. The reduction in CP in the diet from 180 g/kg to 150 g/kg resulted in a 22% reduction in ammonia emissions, and from 180 g/kg to 130 g/kg resulted in a 47% reduction (p < 0.001). Slurry output from pigs offered the 130 g/kg CP diet was reduced by 39% (p < 0.001) and dry matter increased by 35% compared to slurry from pigs offered the 180 g/kg CP diet (p < 0.05). Water usage (p = 0.017), slurry output and nitrogen and phosphate in the slurry (p < 0.05, respectively) were found to decrease linearly with decreasing dietary CP content. There was no significant effect of reducing CP on performance or odour emission but hydrogen sulphide emissions decreased linearly (p < 0.010) with decreasing dietary CP. There was a weak positive relationship between odour emission and ammonia (linear: R2 = 0.25, p = 0.005) with odour emission reduced as ammonia emission reduced. Reducing dietary CP in finishing pig diets could reduce ammonia emissions, water usage and slurry and nutrient output from pig production.Item Extended nursing and/or increased starter diet allowances for low weaning weight pigs(Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies (AAAP), 2019-10-21) Craig, Aimee-Louise; Muns, Ramon; Gordon, Alan; Magowan, ElizabethObjective: To evaluate the use of nurse sows and post-weaning nutrition strategies for low wean weight (WW) pigs on lifetime growth and efficiency. Methods: Animals (n = 270) were assigned to one of five treatments at 28 d. Low WW pigs (<6 kg) were either weaned and offered a special dietary regime recommended for low WW pigs (WEAN) or placed on a nurse sow (NURSE) and weaned at 49 d. Normal WW pigs (9 kg) (NORM) were also weaned at 28 d. After weaning, NORM and NURSE pigs were offered either a ‘high’ (4 kg/pig of starter 1 diet followed by 8 kg/pig of starter 2 diet) or ‘low’ (8 kg/pig of starter 2 diet) starter diet allowance in a 2×2 factorial arrangement. A typical grower diet was then offered, followed by a typical finisher diet until 147 d of age. Results: NORM pigs where heavier throughout their life compared to NURSE pigs (91.4 kg vs 76.2 kg at 147 d; p<0.001). WEAN pigs were heavier at 70 d compared to NURSE pigs (23.9 kg vs 21.0 kg; p<0.001), but there was no significant difference at 147 d between NURSE and WEAN treatments. NURSE pigs had reduced feed intake throughout the finishing period (1.6 kg/d; p<0.001) compared to WEAN (2.0 kg/d) and NORM (1.9 kg/d) pigs. Feed conversion ratio (FCR) of NURSE (2.20) was lower than NORM and WEAN during the finishing period (2.40 and 2.79, respectively). Conclusion: Extended (up to 49 d) nursing for low WW pigs resulted in improved FCR during the finishing period, but no overall improvement in growth rate compared to low WW pigs weaned at 28 d and offered a specialised starter regime. Normal WW pigs where significantly heavier than low WW pigs throughout the study.Item High levels of standardized ileal digestible amino acids improve feed efficiency in slow- growing pigs at late grower- finisher stage(Wiley, 2022-03-06) Camp Montoro, Jordi; Solà- Oriol, David; Muns, Ramon; Gasa, Josep; Llanes, Núria; Manzanilla, Edgar GarciaSlow-growing pigs negatively affect production efficiency in conventional pig farms by increasing the occupation time of the facilities and being a limiting factor for the All-In/All-Out swine production systems. This subset of pigs is usually managed with the rest of the pigs, and their nutrient requirements may not be fulfilled. The purpose of the present study was to compare the productive performance of slow- and fast-growing pigs to different standardized ileal digestible (SID) amino acids (AA) dietary levels at late grower–finisher stage. A total of 84 pigs were weighed, tagged, and classified as slow-growing (SG; n = 48; 24.1 ± 1.38 kg) or fast-growing pigs (FG; n = 36; 42.7 ± 1.63 kg) at 11 weeks of age. Pigs were housed in mixed sex pens (n = 8 SG+6 FG/pen) equipped with feeding stations to record daily feed intake per individual pig. Pigs were assigned to three dietary treatments resulting in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement at 15 weeks of age. Isoenergetic diets were formulated by increasing the ideal protein profile based on the following SID lysine (Lys) levels: 0.92%, 1.18% and 1.45%. Pigs were weighed bi-weekly until 21 weeks of age. Fast-growing pigs were 33.7 kg heavier, gained 255 g/day and consumed 625.5 g/day more than SG pigs (p < 0.001). No interaction or diet effects were observed for final body weight, average daily gain and average daily feed intake (p > 0.05). However, feed conversion ratio was 0.3 lower for SG pigs fed 1.45% SID Lys/AA compared to SG pigs fed 0.92% SID Lys/AA (p = 0.002). Feed conversion ratio was not different within the FG pigs’ dietary treatments (p > 0.05). The efficiency of SG pigs may be improved when dietary SID AA levels are increased from 0.92 up to 1.45% SID Lys/AA. Thus, nutrient requirements may vary depending on growth rate at the same age, and SG pigs may require higher dietary SID AA levels than FG pigs to achieve similar productive performance.Item Newborn traits associated with pre-weaning growth and survival in piglets(Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production Societies(AAAP), 2017-07-17) Nuntapaitoon, Morakot; Muns, Ramon; Tummaruk, PadetObjective: Piglet pre-weaning mortality is an important variable indicating the efficacy of farrowing management and animal well-being during lactation. The present study determined the association of newborn traits measured soon after birth with piglet pre-weaning mortality and growth. Methods: In total, 805 piglets born from 57 multiparous sows were investigated. Their blood oxygen saturation, blood glucose and rectal temperature at 24 h after birth (RT24h) were monitored. Birth order, sex, skin color, integrity of the umbilical cord, attempts to stand and birth intervention were monitored. Piglets were weighed at day 0, 7, and 21 to evaluate average daily gain (ADG). Results: Piglet pre-weaning mortality for lactation period was 12.6% and cumulative mortality during the first 7 days of age was 8.6%. A higher proportion of piglets with pale skin color died compared to piglets with normal skin color (26.7% vs 7.7%, p<0.001). A higher (p<0.001) proportion of piglets that attempted to stand after 5 min (38.5%) died compared to piglets that attempted to stand within 1 min (6.3%) after birth. Piglet body weight at birth (BWB), blood glucose and the number of piglets born alive (BA) were correlated with ADG (p<0.05). Piglets with BWB <1.30 kg had higher (p<0.001) mortality rate than piglets with BWB≥1.80 kg (19.0% vs 3.3%) and piglets with BWB 1.30 to 1.79 kg (4.0%). Piglet with RT24h <37.0°C had higher (p<0.001) mortality rate (86.2%) than piglets with RT24h >38.5°C (3.9%). Conclusion: Low BWB and low RT24h compromise piglet survival during the lactation period in the tropical conditions. Piglets in the litters with a high BA, low BWB and low blood glucose have reduced ADG.Item Predicting Chemical Composition and Apparent Total Tract Digestibility on Freeze-Dried Not Ground Faeces Using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Pigs(MDPI, 2023-06-24) Camp Montoro, Jordi; Solà-Oriol, David; Muns, Ramon; Gasa, Josep; Llanes, Núria; Garcia Manzanilla, EdgarThe present study aimed to compare NIRS results using freeze-dried ground or not ground (FDG or FDNG) faeces to predict faecal chemical composition and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) coefficients. Two different batches of pigs were used (n = 20 mixed sex pens/batch; 11 pigs/pen; Duroc × (Large White × Landrace)). The first batch of pigs (B1; 50.1 ± 3.44 kg body weight (BW)) was used at 13 wks of age and the second batch (B2; 87.0 ± 4.10 kg BW) was used at 18 wks of age. For both B1 and B2, pens were assigned to five diets formulated to obtain a control [10.03 MJ of net energy (NE), 160.0 g of crude protein (CP), and 9.5 g of standardized ileal digestive (SID) lysine (Lys) per kg of feed], low protein (132.0 g CP and 7.5 g SID Lys), high protein (188.0 g CP and 11.5 g SID Lys), low energy (9.61 MJ NE/kg), and high energy (10.45 MJ NE/kg) diets. After a 10-day adaptation period, one faecal sample was collected daily from each pen floor during 6 days in both B1 and B2 (n = 120/batch). Faecal samples were freeze-dried and analysed via NIRS as FDNG and FDG faeces. Dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), CP, gross energy (GE), fat, and ATTD coefficients were analysed/calculated. The NIRS calibrations were evaluated by cross-validation, splitting the data in four random groups, or using the leave-one-out method. For both FDNG and FDG faeces, coefficients of determination for calibration (R2cv) and residual predictive deviation (RPD) values were: close to 0.9 and 3 for DM and CP, 0.7–0.8 and ≥2 for OM and GE, 0.6 and <2 for fat, and 0.54–0.75 and ≤2 for ATTD coefficients, respectively. CP was better predicted using FDG faeces (p < 0.05), while DM and OM ATTD were better predicted using FDNG faeces (p < 0.05). In conclusion, NIRS successfully predicts faeces’ chemical components and ATTD coefficients of nutrients using FDNG or FDG faeces.Item Strategies for Hypothermia Compensation in Altricial and Precocial Newborn Mammals and Their Monitoring by Infrared Thermography(MDPI, 2022-05-23) Lezama-García, Karina; Mota-Rojas, Daniel; Martínez-Burnes, Julio; Villanueva-García, Dina; Domínguez-Oliva, Adriana; Gómez-Prado, Jocelyn; Mora-Medina, Patricia; Casas-Alvarado, Alejandro; Olmos-Hernández, Adriana; Soto, Paola; Muns, RamonThermoregulation in newborn mammals is an essential species-specific mechanism of the nervous system that contributes to their survival during the first hours and days of their life. When exposed to cold weather, which is a risk factor associated with mortality in neonates, pathways such as the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis (HPA) are activated to achieve temperature control, increasing the circulating levels of catecholamine and cortisol. Consequently, alterations in blood circulation and mechanisms to produce or to retain heat (e.g., vasoconstriction, piloerection, shivering, brown adipocyte tissue activation, and huddling) begin to prevent hypothermia. This study aimed to discuss the mechanisms of thermoregulation in newborn domestic mammals, highlighting the differences between altricial and precocial species. The processes that employ brown adipocyte tissue, shivering, thermoregulatory behaviors, and dermal vasomotor control will be analyzed to understand the physiology and the importance of implementing techniques to promote thermoregulation and survival in the critical post-birth period of mammals. Also, infrared thermography as a helpful method to perform thermal measurements without animal interactions does not affect these parameters.Item Toward the automated detection of behavioral changes associated with the post-weaning transition in pigs(Frontiers Media, 2023-01-04) Kyriazakis, Ilias; Alameer, Ali; Bucková, Katarína; Muns, RamonWe modified an automated method capable of quantifying behaviors which we then applied to the changes associated with the post-weaning transition in pigs. The method is data-driven and depends solely on video-captured image data without relying on sensors or additional pigmarkings. It was applied to video images generated from an experiment during which post-weaned piglets were subjected to treatments either containing or not containing in- feed antimicrobials (ZnO or antibiotics). These treatments were expected to aect piglet performance and health in the short-term by minimizing the risk from post-weaning enteric disorders, such as diarrhea. The method quantified total group feeding and drinking behaviors as well as posture (i.e., standing and non-standing) during the first week post-weaning, when the risk of post- weaning diarrhea is at its highest, by learning from the variations within each behavior using datamanually annotated by a behavioral scientist. Automatically quantified changes in behavior were consistent with the eects of the absence of antimicrobials on pig performance and health, and manifested as reduced feed e ciency and looser feces. In these piglets both drinking and standing behaviors were increased during the first 6 days post-weaning. The correlation between fecal consistency and drinking behavior 6 days post weaning was relatively high, suggesting that these behaviors may have a diagnostic value. The presence or absence of in-feed antimicrobials had no eect on feeding behavior, which, however, increased over time. The approach developed here is capable of automaticallymonitoring several dierent behaviors of a group of pigs at the same time, and potentially thismay be where its value as a diagnostic tool may lie.Item Video Analysis Using Deep Learning for Automated Quantification of Ear Biting in Pigs(Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2023-06-12) Odo, Anicetus; Muns, Ramon; Boyle, Laura; Kyriazakis, IliasEar biting is a welfare challenge in commercial pig farming. Pigs sustain injuries at the bite site paving the way for bacterial infections. Early detection and management of this behavior are important to enhance animal health and welfare, increase productivity, and minimize inputs from medication. Pig management using physical observation is impractical because of the scale of modern pig production systems. The same applies to the manual analysis of videos captured from pigsty. Therefore, a method of automated detection is desirable. In this study, we introduce an automatic detection pipeline based on deep learning for the quantification of ear biting outbreaks. Two state-of-the-art detection networks, YOLOv4 and YOLOv7, were trained to localize the regions of ear biting. The detected regions were tracked over multiple video frames using DeepSORT and Centroid tracking algorithms. Tracking provided the association between detected instances in video frames, enabling the computation of the frequency and duration of occurrence. The frequency and duration of ear biting were expressed as the cumulative performance of each group of pigs. The pipeline was evaluated using two datasets from experimental and commercial farms with diverse management and monitoring settings. The detection networks achieved comparable average precision values of 98% & 97.5% and 85.6% & 80.9% on the respective datasets. The tracking algorithms produced 14% and 34% False-Alarm rates, respectively. The results show that automated detection and tracking of ear biting is possible. Subsequently, we applied our method to videos in which pigs were managed in a manner that was expected to affect the frequency of ear biting to different degrees. This method can be used as the basis of an early warning system for the detection of ear-biting in commercial farms.Item Vitality in Newborn Farm Animals: Adverse Factors, Physiological Responses, Pharmacological Therapies, and Physical Methods to Increase Neonate Vigor(MDPI, 2023-04-04) Bienboire-Frosini, Cécile; Muns, Ramon; Marcet-Rius, Míriam; Gazzano, Angelo; Villanueva-García, Dina; Martínez-Burnes, Julio; Domínguez-Oliva, Adriana; Lezama-García, Karina; Casas-Alvarado, Alejandro; Mota-Rojas, DanielVitality is the vigor newborn animals exhibit during the first hours of life. It can be assessed by a numerical score, in which variables, such as heart rate, respiratory rate, mucous membranes’ coloration, time the offspring took to stand up, and meconium staining, are monitored. Vitality can be affected by several factors, and therapies are used to increase it. This manuscript aims to review and analyze pharmacological and physical therapies used to increase vitality in newborn farm animals, as well as to understand the factors affecting this vitality, such as hypoxia, depletion of glycogen, birth weight, dystocia, neurodevelopment, hypothermia, and finally, the physiological mechanism to achieve thermostability. It has been concluded that assessing vitality immediately after birth is essential to determine the newborn’s health and identify those that need medical intervention to minimize the deleterious effect of intrapartum asphyxia. Vitality assessment should be conducted by trained personnel and adequate equipment. Evaluating vitality could reduce long-term neonatal morbidity and mortality in domestic animals, even if it is sometimes difficult with the current organization of some farms. This review highlights the importance of increasing the number of stock people during the expected days of parturitions to reduce long-term neonatal morbidity and mortality, and thus, improve the farm’s performance.