Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
5542946 | Livestock Science | 2017 | 4 Pages |
Abstract
Herd health slaughter checks regularly identify enzootic pneumonia-like (EP-like) lesions and pleuritis. The aim of this paper is to determine the associations between these lesions and post-trimming carcass weight. Data were collected on the presence/ absence and severity of EP-like lesions and presence/ absence of pleuritis from pigs at the abattoir. Linear mixed models identified a significant association between an increase in EP-like lesion severity and a decrease in post-trimming carcass weight (P=0.006) at the individual level. Each categorical increase in EP-like lesion severity (5 points step) was associated with a 0.37Â kg reduction in post-trimming carcass weight. The presence of EP-like lesions in individual pigs, irrespective of severity (P=0.034) and the presence of pleuritis (P=0.038) were significantly associated with a reduction in post-trimming carcass weight of 1.26Â kg and 1.25Â kg respectively. The results confirm that the presence of these lesions at slaughter are associated with a significant decrease in production performance which can result in substantial economic implications for producers.
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Authors
V.R. Brewster, H.C. Maiti, A.W. Tucker, A. Nevel,