Risk factors associated with post-weaning diarrhoea in Austrian piglet-producing farms

Porcine Health Management

Research

Renzhammer René¹  Schwarz Lukas¹  Ladinig Andrea¹  Dolezal Marlies²  Käsbohrer Annemarie³  Vetter Sebastian³ 

[1] Department for Farm Animals and Veterinary Public Health, University Clinic for Swine, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria;Platform for Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria;Unit of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology, Institute of Food Safety, Food Technology and Veterinary Public Health, University of Veterinary Medicine, Veterinärplatz 1, 1210, Vienna, Austria;

关键词: Post-weaning diarrhoea;    PWD;    Colistin;    Zinc;    Horseradish;    Probiotics;    Management;    Housing;    Hygiene;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40813-023-00315-z

 received in 2022-09-20, accepted in 2023-04-19,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

Post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) is a frequent, multifactorial disease of piglets leading to increased mortality rates and high economic losses. Due to the emergence of multi-resistant Escherichia coli isolates and the ban of zinc oxide (ZnO) in the EU since June 2022, alternative measures to prevent PWD are urgently needed. While an abundance of feed supplements is described to prevent PWD, there are hardly any studies reflecting the current situation of PWD in the field. Thus, we aimed to identify differences in management practices, housing and feeding strategies between farms with PWD and farms without PWD. Data were personally collected using a semi-structured questionnaire in 257 Austrian piglet-producing farms. Farms with PWD in more than 10% of all weaned groups within twelve months prior to data collection were defined as case farms (n = 101), while the remaining 136 farms were defined as control farms. Data from 237 farms and 69 explanatory variables were analysed via penalized binary logistic regression using elastic-net in 100 different splits into randomly selected training and test datasets (80:20). Treatment with ZnO and/or colistin (136 farms) was negatively associated with PWD in all splits and had the biggest estimated absolute log odds ratio out of all tested variables. Implementation of an all-in/all-out system in the nursery units and administration of probiotics or horseradish also had preventive effects in most splits (≥ 97%). A higher number of feeding phases for piglets within the first seven weeks of life and housing on fully slatted floors was associated negatively with the occurrence of PWD as well in > 95% of all splits. PWD was more likely to occur on farms having problems with neonatal diarrhoea or postpartum dysgalactia syndrome. While our data demonstrate that treatment with ZnO or colistin had the biggest statistical effect on PWD, we were able to identify other preventive measures like supplementation with probiotics or horseradish. Since implementation of all-in/all-out measures and fully slatted floors were also negatively associated with the occurrence of PWD on visited farms, we assume that reduction of bacterial load by the implementation of simple hygiene measures are still crucial to prevent PWD.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

41116_2023_36_Article_IEq393.gif

41116_2023_36_Article_IEq391.gif

41116_2023_36_Article_IEq390.gif

41116_2023_36_Article_IEq388.gif