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Effect of Vitamin E injection pre-farrowing on antioxidant enzymes and performance of nursery pigs following a PEDV outbreak
Due to the impact of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) on swine production, it is hypothesized that supplementation of vitamin E following an outbreak may be beneficial by reducing oxidative stress in young pigs. Therefore, the objective of our study was to evaluate the effect of a 5 ml i.m. injection of Vital E Repro (300 I.U. Vitamin E, 200,000 I.U. Vitamin A, and 100,000 I.U. Vitamin D3) on day 107 of gestation on litter performance and antioxidant status. Twelve barrows, 6 from sows that received the vitamin E injection, and 6 from sows that received a saline injection, were bled at 4.7 ± 1.2 days of age, at weaning (d24.7 ± 1.2), and after three weeks in the nursery (d45 ± 1.2). Assays for plasma ceruloplasmin (CP), vitamin E (E), and red cell superoxide dismutase (SOD), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were performed using commercially available kits. At weaning, the pigs were allotted into 4 pens by genetics and treatment to evaluate performance while fed a commercial starter diet. Overall ADG and ADFI were greater for pigs from sows receiving the E injection (0.43 vs. 0.30 kg/day, P = 0.05; 0.50 vs. 0.39 kg/day, P = 0.02; E vs. saline, respectively). There was no difference in G:F (0.86 vs. 0.77, P = 0.16) E vs. saline, respectively. Ceruloplasmin activity increased (P < 0.0001) over time (0.075, 0.240, and 0.281 U/ml for d5, d25, and d45, respectively) regardless of treatment. The GSH-Px activity was greater on d45 than d25 regardless of treatment (P = 0.009). There was a treatment*time interaction (P = 0.01) for GSH-Px activity (1702 vs. 2886 nmol/min ml-1) for d25 vs. d45 in the saline treatment. The SOD activity was increased (P < 0.0001) between d5 and d45 (281 vs. 438 U/ml) and between d25 and d45 (296 vs. 438 U/ml) regardless of treatment. Plasma E concentration was greatest on d5 then decreased (P < 0.0001) on d25 and d45 (5.4 vs. 3.1 vs. 0.9 ppm), respectively. Observed changes over time in antioxidant activity could be due to age or dietary changes, thus further investigation is necessary. With a limited number of observations, it appears nursery pig performance may benefit from injecting sows with E prior to farrowing.
Keywords:
Nursery pigs, Vitamin E, Antioxidant enzymes