Special Issue "Global and Local Factors Influencing Swine Health, Production, and Business"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Pigs".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Anna Rząsa
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Immunology, Pathophysiology and Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, Wrocław, Poland
Interests: problems with different parameters influencing pig health and production
Special Issues and Collections in MDPI journals
Dr. Tomasz Schwarz
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Genetics, Animal Breeding and Ethology, University of Agriculture, Kraków, Poland
Interests: swine; physiology of reproduction; ultrasound; ovary; reproductive performance; nutrition; stress; welfare; farm management; production parameters

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A dramatic decrease in pig production worldwide has been noticed in recent years. The desolation caused by African swine fever has additionally been boosted by COVID-19 and the vagueness of international trade regulations in feed and animal products markets. All these problems together can cause long-term negative implications. Our aim is to present wide-ranging aspects of swine production, with particular emphasis on those which are not commonly presented in scientific literature. A great number of papers concerning genetics, health, and nutrition as factors influencing animal production can be found, but there is a paucity of information focused on general management and economy. We would like to identify the right relationships between farm condition, productivity, and profitability on the local and global markets. The presentation of those aspects of animal science and practice which are not excessively described yet will be an opportunity to instigate a wide discussion about difficulties in swine production and the market worldwide. In our opinion, it is worth noting the importance of not only typical experimental factors but also other agents influencing pig production and potentially also experimental results.

We invite review and original papers that address issues related to pig health, production, and management.

Prof. Anna Rząsa
Dr. Tomasz Schwarz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • pigs
  • management
  • health status
  • production traits
  • swine market
  • housing conditions
  • welfare
  • biosecurity
  • animal monitoring

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

Article
Effect of BioPlus YC Probiotic Supplementation on Gut Microbiota, Production Performance, Carcass and Meat Quality of Pigs
Animals 2021, 11(6), 1581; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11061581 - 28 May 2021
Viewed by 1327
Abstract
The objective of the study was to determine the effects of probiotic bacteria Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis on microbiological properties of feed mixtures and on the digestive tract content as applicable to production traits and carcass characteristics of fatteners. The experiment was [...] Read more.
The objective of the study was to determine the effects of probiotic bacteria Bacillus licheniformis and Bacillus subtilis on microbiological properties of feed mixtures and on the digestive tract content as applicable to production traits and carcass characteristics of fatteners. The experiment was performed on 83,838 fatteners from four successive (insertions) productions in two groups. From the seventy eighth day of age till marketing to the slaughter plant, the pigs were supplied with BioPlus YC probiotic (Chr. Hansen) in the amount of 400 g/t. The preparation contained a complex of probiotic bacteria Bacillus licheniformis DSM 5749, and Bacillus subtilis DSM 5750 spores in a 1:1 ratio. From the fourth insertion, after reaching a body weight of approximately 112 kg, 60 fatteners were selected from each group to measure carcass quality and half of them for meat quality evaluation. Moreover, microbiological analyses in feed and colon were performed. The study showed that BioPlus YC probiotics supplementation resulted in a significantly higher count of B. subtilis and B. licheniformis in the feed, a higher count of B. subtilis, B. licheniformis and LAB, as well as a lower count of Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus, Clostridium and Bacillus sp. in the mucosa and in the colorectal content of the test pigs. Our work has shown that supplementation with the BioPlus YC probiotic had a positive effect on the production traits of pigs mainly by reducing mortality (2.83%, p = 0.010), lowering feed conversion ratio—FCR (2.59 kg/kg, p = 0.013), better average daily gain—ADG (0.95 kg/day, p = 0.002) and shorter fattening period (77.25 days, p = 0.019) when compared to the control group (4.19%; 2.79 kg/kg; 0.89 kg/day; 92.8 days, respectively). The addition of the specific Bacillus bacteria did not influence carcass and meat characteristics of the test fatteners. Full article
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