Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 52 ›› Issue (6): 1625-1639.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2021.06.017

• ANIMAL NUTRITION AND FEEDS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Hydrogen Sulfide Exposure for Different Duration on Growth Performance, Blood Indexes and Histopathology in Weaned Piglets

XIE Yanjiao, LIU Zhen, CHEN Lei, MIAO Qixiang, ZHANG Hongfu, TANG Xiangfang*   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2021-02-27 Online:2021-06-23 Published:2021-06-22

Abstract: This experiment was conducted to study the effects of 15 mg·m-3 H2S exposure for different duration on the growth performance, blood physiological and biochemical indicators and the health of the main respiratory, circulatory, metabolic and immune organs in weaned piglets. Twelve healthy 35-day-old weaned piglets with an average body weight of (11.25±0.69) kg were randomly divided into 2 groups with 6 replicates per group and half males and half females in each group. The piglets were fed in 2 sealed environment controlled chambers, respectively. The concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the control group was 0 mg·m-3, the concentration of hydrogen sulfide in the experimental group was 15 mg·m-3. The experiment lasted for 28 days. The growth performance, blood physiology and biochemistry indicators, organ indexes and histopathological observation were measured. The results showed as follows:1) The results of growth performance:Compared with the control group, there were no significant changes in ADFI, ADG and F/G in experimental group (P>0.05). 2) The results of blood routine indexes:In the experimental group, MCV, PCT, MPV and PDW were significantly increased (P<0.05) and MCHC were significantly decreased (P<0.05) after 2 days of H2S exposure; LYM% and MCH were significantly increased (P<0.05) and RBC were significantly decreased (P<0.05) after 14 days of H2S exposure. GRA%, HGB, MCH and PDW were significantly increased (P<0.05) after 28 days of H2S exposure, while PLT and PCT were significantly decreased (P<0.05). 3) The results of the serum biochemical indexes related to liver, heart and kidney functions:Serum TP, ALT, TBIL and CK in experimental group were significantly increased (P<0.05) after 2 days of H2S exposure. There were no significant differences in biochemical indexes related to liver, heart and kidney functions after 14 and 28 days of H2S exposure (P>0.05), respectively. 4) The results of serum immune-related indicators:In the experimental group, IgA was significantly increased (P<0.05) after 2 days of H2S exposure, and there were no significant differences in all indicators after 14 days of H2S exposure (P>0.05); IgA, IgM and CRP were significantly increased (P<0.05) within 28 days of H2S exposure. 5) The results of organ indexes and histopathology:There were no significant changes in the organ indexes of lung, liver, heart, kidney, spleen and thymus (P>0.05) within 28 days of H2S exposure. Histopathological observation revealed that slight inflammatory damage was found only in the lung, while no pathological damage was observed in the other organs. The above results showed that for the weaned piglets under different exposure times at the concentration of 15 mg·m-3 H2S, a short period of exposure may cause immune response as well as liver and heart injury. Then with the time accumulation of exposure, each organ proceeded compensatory repair by itself and enhanced the adaptability. But long time exposure induced slight inflammatory injury in lung, ultimately not conducive to the growth and health of weaned piglets.

Key words: hydrogen sulfide, weaned piglets, different exposure duration, growth performance, blood physiological and biochemical indexes, histopathology

CLC Number: