Sanidade Dry-cleaning concept to reduce the infective pressure against an enteric challenge of piglets in farrowing phase Bennemann, PE 1 *; Simoni, V 2 ; Caselles, AS 1 ; Hayashi, RM 1 & Dallago, G 1 1 SAN Group Biotech Brasil Ltda SAN Vet, Campinas, SP, Brasil 2 UCEFF - Unidade Central de Educação Faem Faculdade, Chapecó, SC, Brasil * Corresponding author: paulo.bennemann@san-group.com Keywords: Diarrhea, modulation, environment, minerals. Introduction In animal health programs, understanding the concept of reducing the infective pressure is, perhaps, the most critical topic to fight health problems. Among them, enteric diseases (bacterial, viral or protozoan) in the farrowing phase are relevant problems due to its economic losses. However, piglet losses due to high pre-weaning mortality rate and medication costs are only part of the total economic losses. Most of time, the future consequences of the non-uniformity of weaned piglets and the gut health of these animals are ignored. Considering that enteric issues in farrowing have future consequences, strategic procedures focused in reducing the infective pressure can be important control tools. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the concept of an environmental dry-cleaning procedure based on a mineral technology product used in farrowing piglets, naturally challenged by enteric agents. Material and methods The trial was performed in a sow farm with 2,300 female, located in the West of Santa Catarina. Two farrowing rooms with capacity to house 48 sows each were used. The sows were distributed into two treatments: T1: Control farrowing room (without the application of the dry- cleaning concept) and T2: Farrowing room with the application of the dry-cleaning concept with a blend of minerals (SAN Vet ® ) at a dose of 50g/m 2 of installation in five applications (first application: day before the farrowing; second application: 24 hours after the first application; third application: 48 hours after the first application (24 hours after the second application); fourth application: 10 days after the first application and fifth application: 15 days after the first application). For T1, 142 sows and 1,830 piglets were used, as well as 144 sows and 1,794 piglets for T2. The concept of dry-cleaning comprises the use of a mineral blend formulated for farrowing room was submitted to three lactation turns (cycles), always following the same treatment in each room (T1 and T2). This protocol was designed based on continuous reduction of infective pressure. The blend of minerals was distributed in the environment, in the presence of the animals, using a costal atomizer machine (Dominus® 3WF-2.6) suitable for powder. Application was performed always in the same period of the morning, with the room completely closed with curtains for a 20-minute period until the product was not in suspension. During the lactation, number of litters showing clinical signs of diarrhea at days 3, 6, 12 and 17 was also evaluated. In order to maintain the same evaluation criteria, monitoring was always performed by the same person in the morning. Positive litters were considered when they presented pasty or cream feces in the pen, external signs (dirt in the perineum) and starting losses of body condition; prevalence of piglets with omphalitis (at day 15 of lactation) and rate of fall behind piglets (day 19 th of lactation, piglets weighing 3 kg or less associated with dehydration and loss of body condition). Results and discussion During the lactation, beyond zootechnical performance data (weaning weight and daily weight gain), factors that could interfere with piglet quality and related to environmental pressure of infection were also evaluated (omphalitis rate). Table 1 presents omphalitis prevalence in piglets at 15 days of age. A prevalence of 10% or more of piglets having poor umbilical cord or infection is a problem (1). Although the incidence of omphalitis lesions was present in both 130
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