Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-1988

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Animal Science

Major Professor

H.G. Kattesh

Committee Members

G.A. Baumbach, F.B. Masincupp

Abstract

Forty-eight artificially reared (AR) and twenty conventionally reared (OR) crossbred pigs were used to characterize specific endocrine and protein changes from birth to six weeks of age. AR pigs were delivered by cesarian section on day 114 of gestation, allowed to nurse for the first 48 hours following birth and then fed a commercial milk replacer diet. CR pigs were born naturally and maintained with the sow until six weeks of age. Blood samples (5 ml), hematocrits, and body weights were taken from all pigs on days 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, and 42 after birth. Total cortisol (TC), unbound cortisol (UB-C), cortisol bound to corticosteroid binding globulin (CBG-C), cortisol bound to albumin (ALB-C), total protein (TP), albumin, tyroxine (T4), and triiodothyronine (T3) were measured in plasma. Overall mean body weights of CR pigs were greater (P < .01) than AR pigs. Hematocrits in both groups of pigs were lowest (P < .01) on days 3 and 7. Hematocrits increased (P < .01) by day 14 to values similar to that observed on day 1. Concentrations of TC were higher at birth (P < .01) than on days 7 to 42 in both groups of pigs (55.6 vs. 19.2 ng/ml). Similarly, UB-C was highest at birth (29.9%) and decreased (P < .01) to its lowest value by day 42 (11.9%). A decline in UB-C for CR pigs began by day 21 in contrast to day 28 for AR pigs. Levels of CBG-C were lowest (P < .01) in both groups of pigs on days 7-21 with an overall mean of 33%. CBG-C for CR and AR pigs peaked on day 42 (54.1%) and day 35 (76.4%), respectively. ALB-C was correlated negatively with CBG-C (r = -.87; P < .01). Total plasma protein and albumin concentrations in CR and AR pigs were lowest (P < .01) at birth and increased to their highest levels by day 14. Overall mean total protein and albumin concentrations for AR pigs (3.2 and 2.2 g/dl, respectively) were lower than for CR pigs (3.9 and 2.4 g/dl, respectively). For both CR and AR pigs T4 concentrations were highest (P < .01) at birth (7.8 μg/dl) and declined (P < .01) to basal levels by day 7 (4.6 μg/dl). CR pigs overall mean T4 concentration was higher (P < .01) than that of AR pigs. T3 concentrations were at or below the detectable limit of the T3 assay (0.5 ng/ml). These results suggest that plasma endocrine and protein changes in the neonatal pig can be influenced by method of rearing.

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