PSXII-39 Effects of pre-weaning iron supplementation on post-weaning diarrhea in pigs challenged with enterotoxigenic E. coli.

摘要

Administration of iron (200 mg per piglet) on day 2 or 3 after birth to prevent anemia is a common practice in modern pig husbandry. However, it has been shown that despite supplementation, iron deficiency is common among fast-growing pigs at weaning, which is a time of stress and disease-challenge. Two trials were conducted to determine whether pigs with iron deficiency at weaning are more susceptible to enteric disease than pigs with adequate iron stores. In each trial all piglets at 3 days of age from 11 litters were assigned to a low (100 mg injectable iron dextran), medium (200 mg of iron dextran) or high (200 mg iron dextran at 3 and 14 days of age) iron treatment. Pigs were tested for susceptibility to F4+ ETEC using RFLP-PCR. For each trial 36 susceptible pigs were transported to the University of Guelph level 2 biosafety facility. Pigs were housed in 6 rooms with 2 pigs from each iron treatment per room. Blood samples were taken at weaning (21 days of age) to determine the hemoglobin status. One day after arrival, pigs in 5 rooms were challenged with 2 mL of 10 CFU of F4 ETEC. Clinical observations were recorded, and rectal swabs were collected and examined for presence of ETEC. At 2 days post-challenge, pigs were euthanized, and intestinal tissue samples were collected for histological examination. Overall, the iron status of the pigs could be categorized based on hemoglobin (hgb) as: anemic (hgb 90110g/L (n=29). Diarrhea was seen in 53% of anemic pigs, 57% of iron deficient pigs and 55% of the pigs with adequate iron levels. There was no significant difference in response to ETEC challenge in pigs with different iron supplementation or with different levels of hgb (P>0.05).