Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (6): 2751-2760.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.06.045

• Clinical Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effect of Antimicrobial Use in the Perinatal Period on the Performance of Sows and Piglets in PRRSV-positive Farms

Shuqi XIAO1,*(), Jun LIU2, Yingtong FENG2, Yang LI1, Lele XU1   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory for Animal Disease Control and Prevention, Lanzhou Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730046, China
    2. College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China
  • Received:2023-11-29 Online:2024-06-23 Published:2024-06-28
  • Contact: Shuqi XIAO E-mail:shqxiaojd@126.com

Abstract:

The present study aimed to assess the effect of antimicrobial use in the perinatal period on the performance of sows and piglets in PRRSV-positive farms. A total of 280 near-term pregnant sows were selected from a large-scale PRRSV-positive pig farm in Guangxi and divided into five groups randomly. During the perinatal period, the sows in each group were administered veterinary antibiotics such as tilmicosin, tiamulin, doxycycline, and tylvalosin commonly used in veterinary medicine, while the control group received no antibiotic treatment. The anterior vena cava blood of weaned piglets in each group was collected for PRRSV antigen and antibody detection to assess the effectiveness of the antibiotics in preventing PRRSV infection in piglets. The number and ratio of diarrhea cases were recorded for each group of weaned piglets to investigate the preventive effect of common antibiotics on piglet diarrhea. The weaning interval of weaned sows and the estrus mating rate within 7 and 10 days after weaning were counted in each group, and the production indexes such as the number of weaning per litter, weaning survival rate and weaning weight of piglets in each group were counted to evaluate the impact of perinatal health care with commonly used antibiotics on the production performance of sows and piglets and to calculate the economic benefits of using drugs. The weaned piglets in the tylvalosin and tilmicosin groups showed a PRRSV nucleic acid positivity rate of 0%, and their PRRS antibody levels were significantly higher than those in the control group. The tylvalosin group exhibited a lower diarrhea rate in piglets compared to the other treatment groups and the control group. Statistical analysis of relevant production indicators showed that compared to other groups, the weaning survival rate and weaning weight of piglets in the tylvalosin groups were the highest, the weaning interval of sows was the shortest, and the average litter loss was lower. In summary, this study assessed the impact of perinatal health care with antibiotics commonly used in veterinary clinic on the production performance of sows and piglets in PRRSV-infected pig farms. It was found that using tylvalosin can inhibit the vertical transmission of PRRSV, enhance piglet antibody levels, and significantly reduce the weaned piglet diarrhea rate. In addition, the use of tylvalosin significantly improved weaning survival rate and weaning weight of piglets, shortened the separation interval of sows, and reduced the loss of litter assets. The initiation of this study provides crucial experimental data and theoretical support for effective antimicrobial use in large-scale PRRSV-positive pig farms, and provided necessary supplementary measures for realizing cost reduction and efficiency increase in large-scale pig farms under the background of PRRSV pandemic.

Key words: porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, large-scale pig farms, perinatal, antibiotics, tylvalosin

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