Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-rkxrd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-19T10:21:01.168Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Health and immune traits of Basque and Large White pigs housed in a conventional or enriched environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 January 2012

E. Merlot ,
A. Vincent ,
F. Thomas ,
M.-C. Meunier-Salaün ,
M. Damon ,
F. Robert ,
J.-Y. Dourmad ,
B. Lebret  and
A. Prunier
E. Merlot*
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35000 Rennes, France
A. Vincent
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35000 Rennes, France
F. Thomas
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35000 Rennes, France
M.-C. Meunier-Salaün
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35000 Rennes, France
M. Damon
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35000 Rennes, France
F. Robert
Affiliation:
CCPA, DELTAVIT ZA du Bois de Teillay, F-35150 Janzé, France
J.-Y. Dourmad
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35000 Rennes, France
B. Lebret
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35000 Rennes, France
A. Prunier
Affiliation:
INRA, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35590 Saint-Gilles, France Agrocampus Ouest, UMR1348 PEGASE, F-35000 Rennes, France
*
†E-mail: Elodie.Merlot@rennes.inra.fr
Get access

Abstract

Since decades, production traits such as growth rate, feed efficiency or body composition have been drastically increased in pigs by genetic selection. Whether this selection impacted animal robustness is still unclear. In this study, we compared Large White (LW) pigs, a breed submitted to intense genetic selection for production traits, and Basque (B) pigs, a local rustic breed, reared in two different housing environments (conventional v. enriched). Adaptation to housing conditions among each breed was evaluated at the level of endocrine and immune traits. These are known to be impacted by housing conditions and breed; however, the interaction effects between genotype and environment are less described. Animals (20 per breed and housing environment) entered the experiment at 35 kg of live weight. Levels of cortisol, acute-phase inflammatory proteins, immunoglobulins and hydrogen peroxide, blood formula, lymphocyte proliferation and in-vitro cytokine expression were measured at ∼115 kg of live weight. Animals were checked for skin injuries during the growing period. At slaughter, at the average live weight of 145 kg, carcasses were examined for pathological conditions of the respiratory tract. The major result was that the two breeds exhibited differences in response to the housing environment. Among the 24 sanitary, endocrine or immune traits investigated, the housing conditions affected eight variables in both breeds (salivary cortisol at 0700 and 1900 h, severity of pneumonia at slaughter) or only in B pigs (severe skin lesions) or LW pigs (salivary cortisol at 1500 h, granulocyte numbers and lymphocyte/granulocyte ratio and lymphocyte proliferation). These observations strengthen the hypothesis that selection for high meat production level might be associated with an increased susceptibility of animals to environmental stressors.

Keywords

pigbreedhousingcortisolleukocytes
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 6 , Issue 8 , August 2012 , pp. 1290 - 1299
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ballerini, A, Civitareale, C, Fiori, M, Regini, M, Betti, M, Brambilla, G 2003. Traceability of inbred and crossbred cinta senese pigs by evaluating the oxidative stress. Journal of Veterinary Medicine Series A 50, 113–116.Google Scholar
Bloomer, RJ, Fisher-Wellman, KH 2008. Blood oxidative stress biomarkers: influence of sex, exercise training status, and dietary intake. Gender Medicine 5, 218–228.Google Scholar
Brambilla, G, Civitareale, C, Ballerini, A, Fiori, M, Amadori, M, Archetti, LI, Regini, M, Betti, M 2002. Response to oxidative stress as a welfare parameter in swine. Redox Report 7, 159–163.Google Scholar
Brambilla, G, Ballerini, A, Civitareale, C, Fiori, M, Neri, B, Cavallina, R, Nardoni, A, Giannetti, L 2003. Oxidative stress as a bio-marker of estrogen exposure in healthy veal calves. Analytica Chimica Acta 483, 281–288.Google Scholar
Castellini, C, Dal Bosco, A, Mugnai, C, Bernardini, M 2002. Performance and behaviour of chickens with different growing rate reared according to the organic system. Italian Journal of Animal Science 1, 291–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomczynski, P, Sacchi, N 1987. Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate–phenol–chloroform extraction. Analytical Biochemistry 162, 156–159.Google Scholar
Clapperton, M, Bishop, SC, Glass, EJ 2005a. Innate immune traits differ between Meishan and Large White pigs. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 104, 131–144.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clapperton, M, Bishop, SC, Cameron, ND, Glass, EJ 2005b. Associations of acute phase protein levels with growth performance and with selection for growth performance in Large White pigs. Animal Science 81, 213–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clapperton, M, Bishop, SC, Glass, EJ 2006. Selection for lean growth and food intake leads to correlated changes in innate immune traits in Large White pigs. Animal Science 82, 867–876.Google Scholar
Clapperton, M, Bishop, SC, Piñeiro, M, Campbell, FM, Glass, EJ 2007. The association between plasma levels of acute phase proteins, haptoglobin, alpha-1 acid glycoprotein (AGP), Pig-MAP, transthyretin and serum amyloid A (SAA) in Large White and Meishan pigs. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 119, 303–309.Google Scholar
Cornelli, U, Terranova, R, Luca, S, Cornelli, M, Alberti, A 2001. Bioavailability and antioxidant activity of some food supplements in men and women using the D-Roms test as a marker of oxidative stress. The Journal of Nutrition 131, 3208–3211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Couret, D, Jamin, A, Kuntz-Simon, G, Prunier, A, Merlot, E 2009a. Maternal stress during late gestation has moderate but long-lasting effects on the immune system of the piglets. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 131, 17–24.Google Scholar
Couret, D, Otten, W, Puppe, B, Prunier, A, Merlot, E 2009b. Behavioural, endocrine and immune responses to repeated social stress in pregnant gilts. Animal 3, 118–127.Google Scholar
Coutellier, L, Arnould, C, Boissy, A, Orgeur, P, Prunier, A, Veissier, I, Meunier-Salaün, M-C 2007. Pig's responses to repeated social regrouping and relocation during the growing–finishing period. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 105, 102–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
de Groot, J, de Jong, IC, Prelle, IT, Koolhaas, JM 2000. Immunity in barren and enriched housed pigs differing in baseline cortisol concentration. Physiology and Behavior 71, 217–223.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
de Jong, IC, Ekkel, ED, van de Burgwal, JA, Lambooij, E, Korte, SM, Ruis, MAW, Koolhaas, JM, Blokhuis, HJ 1998. Effects of strawbedding on physiological responses to stressors and behavior in growing pigs. Physiology and Behavior 64, 303–310.Google Scholar
de Leeuw, JA, Ekkel, ED 2004. Effects of feeding level and the presence of a foraging substrate on the behaviour and stress physiological response of individually housed gilts. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 86, 15–25.Google Scholar
Désautés, C, Sarrieau, A, Caritez, JC, Mormede, P 1999. Behavior and pituitary–adrenal function in large white and Meishan pigs. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 16, 193–205.Google Scholar
Désautés, C, Bidanel, J-P, Milan, D, Iannuccelli, N, Amigues, Y, Bourgeois, F, Caritez, JC, Renard, C, Chevalet, C, Mormède, P 2002. Genetic linkage mapping of quantitative trait loci for behavioral and neuroendocrine stress response traits in pigs. Journal of Animal Science 80, 2276–2285.Google ScholarPubMed
Dhabhar, FS, Miller, AH, McEwen, BS, Spencer, RL 1995. Effect of stress on immune cell distribution, dynamics and homnonal mechanisms. The Journal of Immunology 154, 5511–5527.Google Scholar
Doeschl-Wilson, AB, Kyriazakis, I, Vincent, A, Rothschild, MF, Thacker, E, Galina-Pantoja, L 2009. Clinical and pathological responses of pigs from two genetically diverse commercial lines to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection. Journal of Animal Science 87, 1638–1647.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dourmad, JY, Canario, L, Gilbert, H, Merlot, E, Quesnel, H, Prunier, A 2010. Evolution of animal performance and robustness in pig farms. Productions Animales 23, 53–64.Google Scholar
Dröge, W 2002. Free radicals in the physiological control of cell function. Physiological Reviews 82, 47–95.Google Scholar
Edfors-Lilja, I, Wattrang, E, Andersson, L, Fossum, C 2000. Mapping quantitative trait loci for stress induced alterations in porcine leukocyte numbers and functions. Animal Genetics 31, 186–193.Google Scholar
Foury, A, Tribout, T, Bazin, C, Billon, Y, Bouffaud, M, Gogue, JM, Bidanel, JP, Mormède, P 2009. Estimation of genetic trends from 1977 to 2000 for stress-responsive systems in French Large White and Landrace pig populations using frozen semen. Animal 3, 1681–1687.Google Scholar
Geverink, NA, Foury, A, Plastow, GS, Gil, M, Gispert, M, Hortos, M, Furnols, MFI, Gort, G, Moisan, MP, Mormède, P 2006. Cortisol-binding globulin and meat quality in five European lines of pigs. Journal of Animal Science 84, 204–211.Google Scholar
Hirose, H, Kawabe, H, Komiya, N, Saito, I 2009. Relations between serum reactive oxygen metabolites (ROMs) and various inflammatory and metabolic parameters in a Japanese population. Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis 16, 77–82.Google Scholar
Joling, P, Wever, PJM, Oskam, JPH, Henken, AM 1993. Lymphocyte stimulation by phytohaemagglutinin and concanavalin A in different swine breeds. Livestock Production Science 35, 341–350.Google Scholar
Knap, PW, Rauw, WM 2009. Selection for high production in pigs. In Resource allocation theory applied to farm animal production (ed. WM Rauw), pp. 210–229. CAB International, Oxfordshire, UK.Google Scholar
Lebret, B 2008. Effects of feeding and rearing systems on growth, carcass composition and meat quality in pigs. Animal 2, 1548–1558.Google Scholar
Lebret, B, Prunier, A, Bonhomme, N, Foury, A, Mormède, P, Dourmad, JY 2011. Physiological traits and meat quality of pigs as affected by genotype and housing system. Meat Science 88, 14–22.Google Scholar
Letourneau, V, Nehme, B, Meriaux, A, Masse, D, Duchaine, C 2010. Impact of production systems on swine confinement buildings bioaerosols. Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene 7, 94–102.Google Scholar
Lykkesfeldt, J, Svendsen, O 2007. Oxidants and antioxidants in disease: oxidative stress in farm animals. Veterinary Journal 173, 502–511.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Madec, F, Kobisch, M 1982. Bilan lésionnel des poumons de porcs charcutiers à l'abattoir. Journées de la Recherche Porcine 14, 8.Google Scholar
Magnusson, U, Wilkie, B, Artursson, K, Mallard, B 1999. Interferon-alpha and haptoglobin in pigs selectively bred for high and low immune response and infected with Mycoplasma hyorhinis. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 68, 131–137.Google Scholar
Monaghan, P, Metcalfe, NB, Torres, R 2009. Oxidative stress as a mediator of life history trade-offs: mechanisms, measurements and interpretation. Ecology Letters 12, 75–92.Google Scholar
Morrison, RS, Johnston, LJ, Hilbrands, AM 2007. The behaviour, welfare, growth performance and meat quality of pigs housed in a deep-litter, large group housing system compared to a conventional confinement system. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 103, 12–24.Google Scholar
Munsterhjelm, C, Valros, A, Heinonen, M, Halli, O, Sijander-Rasi, H, Peltioniemi, OAT 2010. Environmental enrichment in early life affects cortisol patterns in growing pigs. Animal 4, 242–249.Google Scholar
Opriessnig, T, Fenaux, M, Thomas, P, Hoogland, MJ, Rothschild, MF, Meng, XJ, Halbur, PG 2006. Evidence of breed-dependent differences in susceptibility to porcine circovirus type-2-associated disease and lesions. Veterinary Pathology Online 43, 281–293.Google Scholar
Ousova, O, Guyonnet-Duperat, V, Iannuccelli, N, Bidanel, JP, Milan, D, Genet, C, Llamas, B, Yerle, M, Gellin, J, Chardon, P, Emptoz-Bonneton, A, Pugeat, M, Mormede, P, Moisan, MP 2004. Corticosteroid binding globulin: a new target for cortisol-driven obesity. Molecular Endocrinology 18, 1687–1696.Google Scholar
Perogamvros, I, Keevil, BG, Ray, DW, Trainer, PJ 2010. Salivary cortisone is a potential biomarker for serum free cortisol. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 95, 4951–4958.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Petry, DB, Lunney, J, Boyd, P, Kuhar, D, Blankenship, E, Johnson, RK 2007. Differential immunity in pigs with high and low responses to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus infection. Journal of Animal Science 85, 2075–2092.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prunier, A, Dourmad, JY, Etienne, M 1993. Feeding level, metabolic parameters and reproductive-performance of primiparous sows. Livestock Production Science 37, 185–196.Google Scholar
Prunier, A, Heinonen, M, Quesnel, H 2010. High physiological demands in intensively raised pigs: impact on health and welfare. Animal 4, 886–898.Google Scholar
Pugeat, MM, Chrousos, GP, Nisula, BC, Loriaux, DL, Brandon, D, Lipsett, MB 1984. Plasma cortisol transport and primate evolution. Endocrinology 115, 357–361.Google Scholar
Rauw, WM, Kanis, E, Noordhuizen-Stassen, EN, Grommers, FJ 1998. Undesirable side effects of selection for high production efficiency in farm animals: a review. Livestock Production Science 56, 15–33.Google Scholar
Ridker, PM, Brown, NJ, Vaughan, DE, Harrison, DG, Mehta, JL 2004. Established and emerging plasma biomarkers in the prediction of first atherothrombotic events. Circulation 109, IV6–IV19.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, MP, Kattesh, HG, Baumbach, GA, Gillespie, BE, Godkin, JD, Schneider, JF, Saxton, AM 2003. Age-related changes in porcine corticosteroid-binding globulin (pCBG) as determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 24, 323–339.Google Scholar
Sauerwein, H, Schmitz, S, Hiss, S 2007. Effects of a dietary application of a yeast cell wall extract on innate and acquired immunity, on oxidative status and growth performance in weanling piglets and on the ileal epithelium in fattened pigs. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 91, 369–380.Google Scholar
Stull, CL, Kachulis, CJ, Farley, JL, Koenig, GJ 1999. The effect of age and teat order on alpha1-acid glycoprotein, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio, cortisol, and average daily gain in commercial growing pigs. Journal of Animal Science 77, 70–74.Google Scholar
Vandesompele, J, De Preter, K, Pattyn, F, Poppe, B, Van Roy, N, De Paepe, N, Speleman, F 2002. Accurate normalization of real-time quantitative RT-PCR data by geometric averaging of multiple internal control genes. Genome Biology 3, http://genomebiology.com/3/7/research/0034 Google Scholar
Vincent, AL, Thacker, BJ, Halbur, PG, Rothschild, MF, Thacker, EL 2006. An investigation of susceptibility to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus between two genetically diverse commercial lines of pigs. Journal of Animal Science 84, 49–57.Google Scholar
Vining, RF, McGinley, RA, Maksvytis, JJ, Ho, KY 1983. Salivary cortisol – a better measure of adrenal–cortical function than serum cortisol. Annals of Clinical Biochemistry 20, 329–335.Google Scholar
Wallgren, P, Wilén, I-L, Fossum, C 1993. Influence of the experimentally induced endogenous production of cortisol on the immune capacity in swine. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 42, 301–316.Google Scholar
Welfare Quality consortium 2009. Welfare Quality® Assessment Protocol for pigs. Lelystad, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Wilkie, B, Mallard, B 1999. Selection for high immune response: an alternative approach to animal health maintenance? Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 72, 231–235.Google Scholar
Wimmers, K, Murani, E, Schellander, K, Ponsuksili, S 2009. QTL for traits related to humoral immune response estimated from data of a porcine F2 resource population. International Journal of Immunogenetics 36, 141–151.Google Scholar