137 Results Found

Foodborne pathogens, including antibiotic-resistant species, constitute a severe menace to food safety globally, especially food animals. Identifying points of concern that need immediate mitigation measures to prevent these bacteria from reaching ho...

Enterococcus spp. are opportunistic and nosocomial pathogens. Intensive pig farms have been recently described as important hotspots for antibiotic resistance and reservoirs of potentially pathogenic enterococci, including other species than the most...

Antibiotic resistance profiles of Escherichia coli were investigated in an intensive pig production system in the uMgungundlovu District, South Africa, using the ‘farm-to-fork’ approach. Four hundred seventeen (417) samples were collected from pig an...

In this research, environmental impacts associated with the intensive production of pigs on a farm in Mexico were determined through the application of life cycle assessment methodology. The research was focused on the following stages of the product...

Porcine circoviruses (PCVs), encompassing porcine circovirus type 1 (PCV1), porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2), porcine circovirus type 3 (PCV3), and porcine circovirus type 4 (PCV4), have been documented in China and represent a significant threat to...

Since the mid-2000s, livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) has been identified among pigs worldwide, CC398 being the most relevant LA-MRSA clone. In the present work, nasal swabs were taken from healthy pigs of di...

Biosecurity plays a critical role in preventing and controlling the introduction and spread of infectious diseases. The COVID-19 pandemic in China triggered a nationwide lockdown policy which reduced most of the daily activities of people, but the pi...

European pig farmers are challenged by increasingly stringent EU regulations to protect the environment from pollution, to meet animal welfare standards and to make pig farming more sustainable. Economic sustainability is defined as the ability to ac...

Hepatitis E virus (HEV) is the causative agent of acute hepatitis E infection in humans. Two epidemiological patterns of the disease exist—endemic and sporadic. Genotypes 1 (HEV-1) and 2 (HEV-2) are transmitted through contaminated water and ar...

Aggression in farm animals affects welfare. Although one-on-one aggression was studied, group-on-individual aggression remains unresolved. This study aimed to examine how herd establishment times and structures influence aggression intensity (AI) of...

Animal welfare is important; therefore, veterinarians and other animal welfare experts try to use different tools for pig welfare assessment. Several welfare protocols are available for pig welfare assessment, and one of the most used is Welfare Qual...

Intensively farmed animals such as pigs inevitably experience a certain degree of psychological stress, which leads to a reduction in production performance. Mental health traits are currently difficult to measure, resulting in a gap in understanding...

Background/Objectives: Intensive pig farming is a critical component of food security and economic activity in South Africa; however, it also presents a risk of amplifying antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This study provides genomic insights into anti...

Determination of the dynamics between microalgae and bacteria in pig farming biogas digestate is vital for a consistent and reliable application towards sustainable wastewater treatment and biofuel production. This study assesses the reliability of u...

The pathogenomics of carbapenem-resistant Aeromonas veronii (A. veronii) isolates recovered from pigs in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, was explored by whole genome sequencing on the Illumina MiSeq platform. Genomic functional annotation revealed a vas...

Respiratory diseases, such as pleurisy and pneumonia, cause significant health and economic losses in pig production. This study evaluated 867 finishing pigs from a farm with a history of respiratory issues, using macroscopic lesion scoring (SPES and...

Pollutants produced by pig breeding are among the important pollutions. It is necessary to explore the factors influencing the emission intensity of pollutants from pig breeding and find ways to decrease them. Using the provincial panel data of China...

This study employs a thorough methodology to define water sustainability criteria for the development of new pig farms on the karst aquifer of Yucatan, Mexico. The integrated approach entails a field campaign to assess water quality from the aquifer...

The modernization of pig farming has resulted in increasingly dense pig populations. While this accelerates production and ensures a steady pork supply, it also increases the risk of infection transmission. As an endemic and widely distributed pathog...

Scientific interest in pollution from veterinary antibiotics (VAs) on intensive animal farms has been increasing in recent years. However, limited information is available on the seasonal pollution characteristics and the associated ecological risks...

Although the People’s Republic of China produces more animals for consumption than any other country, very little is known about the attitudes of stakeholders in the livestock industries to animal welfare in farming systems. This study investig...

Pigs were identified as the most important reservoir of livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA), mostly belonging to the emergent zoonotic clonal complex (CC) 398. Here, we investigated the presence of MRSA in sows...

Pork accounts for 34% of global meat consumption, following poultry and beef. Intensive pig farming has expanded to meet increasing demand, but space constraints and poor environmental conditions can negatively affect pig welfare. This study aimed to...

Preventative measures, such as biosecurity and vaccinations, are essential but not sufficient to ensure high standards of health in pig production systems. Restrictive, barren housing and many widely used management practices that cause pain and stre...

Determination of ammonia (NH3) emissions for intensive livestock facilities (pork, poultry) is important from both a regulatory and a research point of view. Buildings housing livestock are a large source of ammonia emissions from the agriculture sec...

The vomeronasal organ (VNO) plays a key role in mammals, since it detects pheromones thus enabling social interactions between congeners. VNO inflammatory changes have been shown to severely impact animal life, leading to impaired social interactions...

Although pig meat accounts for nearly half of total meat production in Europe, less attention has been focused on the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of pig farming. The aim of this study was to assess and compare the impact of pig livestock on GHG em...

Ammonia (NH3) emissions have a negative impact on the welfare of breeding animals, human health, and the environment. These influences of modern intensive agriculture have led to numerous protocols, national regulations, and European Directives. Foll...

Contrary to pig farming in developed Western countries, in a large part of the world, pigs are still traditionally kept in small backyard farms, usually for family needs. Their main characteristics are low biosecurity, swill feeding, natural breeding...

Antibiotics have been extensively used to ensure the productivity of animals on intensive livestock farms. Accordingly, antimicrobial-resistant organisms, which can be transmitted to humans via the food chain, pose a threat to public health. The Ente...

Measurements with high time resolution are necessary to capture variation patterns and to facilitate the estimation of uncertainty in ammonia inventories. Continuous real-time monitoring of ammonia was carried out in a naturally ventilated nursery pi...

Respiratory diseases significantly affect intensive pig finishing farms, causing production losses and increased antimicrobial use (AMU). Lesion scoring at slaughter has been recognized as a beneficial practice to evaluate herd management. The integr...

Motion and aggressive behaviors in pigs provide important information for the study of social hierarchies in pigs and can be used as a selection indicator for pig health and aggression parameters. However, relying only on visual observation or survei...

Understanding the natural behaviour of pigs in free-range conditions facilitates interpretation of their behaviour in intensive conditions. Studying six different farms over two years at different seasons, with climatic and management variations, all...

Our study aimed to contribute to the understanding of the stress process in pigs to better assess and control their stress levels. Nowadays, pigs in intensive farming are exposed to several stress factors, such as weaning, transportation, diseases an...

Toxoplasma gondii is a widespread protozoon that can infect both animals and humans. The main route of human infection is the consumption of the raw or undercooked meat of several animal species, including pigs. Although T. gondii represents a public...

Infrared cameras allow non-invasive and 24 h continuous monitoring. Thus, they are widely used in automatic pig monitoring, which is essential to maintain the profitability and sustainability of intensive pig farms. However, in practice, impurities s...

The popularity of meat from animals of native breeds is growing all over the world, due to consumer belief regarding its higher quality compared to meat from industrial farm animals. In addition, the living conditions (welfare) are of great importanc...

Intestinal parasites, helminths, and protozoa challenge health and welfare of pigs and deteriorate the sustainability of swine farms leading to monetary losses. A multicentric survey was conducted for approximately one year. Overall, 1150 fecal sampl...

Pig manure currently results in sizeable greenhouse gas emissions, during storage and spreading to land. Anaerobic digestion and hydrothermal carbonisation could provide significant greenhouse gas mitigation, as well as generate renewable heat and po...

Bats are often claimed to be a major source for future viral epidemics, as they are associated with several viruses with zoonotic potential. Here we describe the presence and biodiversity of bats associated with intensive pig farms devoted to the pro...

The effects of nematodes and bacteria on intestinal health are of primary importance in modern swine production. The aim of the present study was to assess the seropositivity status of Ascaris suum infection in fatteners in intensive swine farms in G...

Although Staphylococcus aureus is a major threat to the veterinary, agricultural, and public health sectors because of its zoonotic potential, studies on its molecular characterisation in intensive animal production are rare. We phenotypically and ge...

Automatic detection of pig wasting diseases is an important issue in the management of group-housed pigs. Further, respiratory diseases are one of the main causes of mortality among pigs and loss of productivity in intensive pig farming. In this stud...

As large-scale and intensive fattening pig farming has become mainstream, the increase in farm size has led to more severe issues related to the hierarchy within pig groups. Due to genetic differences among individual fattening pigs, those that grow...

Against the backdrop of precision livestock farming, sow behavior analysis holds significant theoretical and practical value. Traditional production methods face challenges such as low production efficiency, high labor intensity, and increased diseas...

Tail biting in pigs has been recognised as a welfare problem for several decades, being referred to in scientific literature as far back as the 1940s. Today, animal welfare scientists have a solid understanding of the aetiology of tail biting. Despit...

In countries with intensive pig husbandry in stables, the prevalence of livestock-associated (LA) methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on such farms has remained high in the last few years or has also further increased. Simple measures...

The vomeronasal organ (VNO) is a bilateral chemosensory structure strongly involved in animal behaviour, thanks to its sensory epithelium (VNSE) that detects pheromones. Experimental VNO lesions can impair social, reproductive and maternal behaviour,...

The goal of this study was to develop an automated monitoring system for the detection of pigs’ bodies, heads and tails. The aim in the first part of the study was to recognize individual pigs (in lying and standing positions) in groups and the...