Progress 01/01/24 to 12/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience: The primary audience for this research includes pork producers and professionals working in swine nutrition. We engaged with these stakeholders through various channels: Industry Publications: Producer-oriented articles were published in outlets like National Hog Farmer and similar industry magazines (audience size unknown). Conferences and Meetings: Results were presented at the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, which attracts approximately 1,000 veterinarians and nutrition professionals annually. Abstracts were shared at the American Society of Animal Science Midwest Annual Meeting, a globally attended event by swine nutrition specialists. Partial findings were presented at the Digestive Physiology in Pigs conference held in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Scientific Publications: The broader scientific community was reached through a peer-reviewed manuscript published in the Journal of Animal Science. This multi-faceted approach ensured the dissemination of findings to both practical and academic audiences globally. Changes/Problems:A non-cost extension has been requested and granted. The extension request stems from our collaboration with a pork producer in Minnesota, where an outbreak of porcine respiratory and reproductive syndrome (PRRS) necessitated depopulation and repopulation with specific pathogen-free stock. Consequently, breeding of sows will not resume until November, delaying data collection until February 2025 and subsequent data analysis and report writing. While farms implement extensive measures to prevent such infectious outbreaks, their occurrence remains unpredictable and disruptive to research timelines. Despite these challenges, our partnership with the pork producer enables us to integrate fundamental zinc research within a commercial production setting, thereby enhancing the potential practical impact of our findings. Despite the delay in completing a new feeding experiment, we continued analysing data and submitting manuscripts for peer-reviewed process. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?This project has created several opportunities for training and professional development: Graduate Student Development: Samuel Berrios, an M.S. student in the Animal Science program at the University of Minnesota, is actively working on this project. The data generated will form the foundation of his M.S. thesis, providing him with hands-on research experience and expertise in dietary zinc nutrition and metabolism. Undergraduate Engagement: Undergraduate students in the Animal Science program will participate in farm visits, offering them exposure to real-world applications of animal nutrition research and insights into career opportunities within the sector. Faculty and Graduate Research Opportunities: Faculty and graduate students involved in the project gain valuable experience in conducting cutting-edge research. They also expand their knowledge in dietary zinc nutrition and its role in metabolism, enhancing their professional development. These efforts contribute to building a skilled workforce equipped with practical and research-based knowledge in swine nutrition. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The information from this experiment has been shared in peer-reviewed publication, technical abstracts at American Society of Animal Science the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference and the Minnesota Nutrition Conference. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A new sow feeding experiment is underway.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Improving Sustainability in U.S. Pork Production through Zinc Supplementation Despite significant advancements in swine production, approximately one-third of pigs conceived fail to reach market in the U.S. This inefficiency undermines the long-term sustainability of U.S. pork production and places additional strain on the food system. Our recent research demonstrates that supra-nutritional zinc supplementation (>100 ppm) in late-gestating sows significantly improves the survival rates of newborn pigs. While this intervention shows promise in reducing neonatal pig mortality, the optimal timing of zinc supplementation during gestation remains unclear. To address this gap, we are initiating a new study. Hypothesis We hypothesize that the timing of zinc sulfate supplementation during gestation will reduce pre-weaning mortality and enhance the lifetime productivity of pigs. Objectives To evaluate pre-weaning survival rates, particularly for low-birth-weight piglets. To assess postnatal growth performance (weaning to market) of pigs born to zinc-supplemented sows. Experimental Design Four treatment groups will be studied: Control: 125 ppm supplemental zinc throughout gestation. Early: 600 ppm supplemental zinc fed from weaning to day 42 of gestation (transition from individual stalls to group pens). Late: 600 ppm supplemental zinc fed from day 85 of gestation to farrowing. Early/Late: 600 ppm supplemental zinc fed both from weaning to day 42 of gestation and from day 85 of gestation to farrowing. The study is scheduled to begin in January 2025. A graduate student is hired and has been trained in data collection and project management and we are ready to start the experiment.
Publications
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Hammers, K. L., Urriola, P. E., Schwartz, M., Ryu, M. S., Gomez, A., & Johnston, L. J. (2024). Timing of dietary zinc additions during gestation for improved piglet survival. Translational Animal Science, 8. doi: 10.1093/tas/txae030
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Progress 01/01/23 to 12/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:We have a diverse audience in disemination of results from the current project, these include: - Farm or production nutritionists, professionals dedicated to daily nutrition of pigs. - Research scientists in academic insitutions - Veterinary practitioners in pork production companies - Professionals in pharmaceutial companies and animal nutrition services - Natonal Research Council members of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Changes/Problems:There were two major issues with processing samples for microbiome analysis: 1) Host (pig) DNA in high concentration in milk and colostrum samples with low concentration of bacterial DNA. The following is a summary of the issue and the method that we used to address the problem. Background Our goal is to analyze the impact of sow zinc supplementation on microbial communities in samples of milk. However, milk is typically a sample type with low bacterial biomass and rich in host DNA. Additionally, protein and fat within milk can interfere with qPCR and other applications. In light of these observations, a pilot study was conducted to determinethe best DNA extraction kit that would offer the lowest % of host reads. The tested kits were: Powersoil (standard) Zymo HostZERO - depletes host DNA Qiagen QIAamp DNA microbiome - depletes host DNA We selected 5 samples of colostrum and 5 sames of milk and extracted with each kit (n = 30). Results show that a very large proportion of reads are reads mapping to the Sus scrofa genome, meaning we were sequencing host DNA and less bacteria DNA (which is our target). Below is a table showing the percent of reads mapping to the swine genome. Power Soil (PS) Zymo Host Depletion (HD) Qiagen Host Depletion (QH) SEM P-value All samples % of reads mapping to pig genome 99.31a 91.82b 99.40a 2.315 0.043 Colostrum only % of reads mapping to pig 99.28 92.34 99.42 3.90 0.371 Milk only % of reads mapping to pig 99.30 91.30 99.38 2.979 0.129 It appears that the Zymo kit was slightly better, however this kit typically depletes host DNA and also bacterial DNA. After reviewing the information, research members decided that option 1 was the best choice. Therefore, the decision was to extract other milk and colostrum samples with the Powersoil kit. This kit was chosen over Zymo kit as all other samples were extracted with the Powersoil kit to keep everything the same in anticipation of review comments. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two undergraduate students were trained in DNA extraction techniques as well as a graduate student was trained in pipeline development and analysis of samples. Two post-doctoral researchers are involved in the project to guide students and improve their mentoring skills. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Yes, the data has been presented at the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) in past conference (2023). New data analyses will be presented at the 2024 ASAS Midwest meetings in Madison, WI. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Data analysis of previous zinc feeding experiment We are using additional bioinformatic tools to analyze the microbiome data from the previous zinc feeding experiment. This includes150 metagenomes composed of 5-10 million reads per sample are to be processed through the Biobakery and PathoFact pipeline (de Nies et al., 2021). This requires the assembly of each sample's contigs and then mapping using PathoFact for virulence and antibiotic factors. The resulting feature table will then be used for downstream analysis. de Nies, L., Lopes, S., Busi, S.B. et al. PathoFact: a pipeline for the prediction of virulence factors and antimicrobial resistance genes in metagenomic data. Microbiome 9, 49 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-020-00993-9 New experiment: timing of zinc supplementation influence farrowing performance and newborn pig survival. In addition, a new feeding experiment is under development with the following similar management as Hammers et al. (2024): Hypothesis We hypothesize that timing of supplemental zinc sulfate feeding during gestation will reduce pre-wean mortality and improve lifetime productivity of pigs. Objectives 1. To determine pre-weaning survival of pigs, especially low birth weight pigs. 2. To determine postnatal growth performance (wean to market) of pigs farrowed by zinc-supplemented sows. Treatments 1. Control - 125 ppm supplemental zinc throughout gestation 2. Early - 600 ppm supplemental zinc fed from weaning to day 50 of gestation 3. Late - 600 ppm supplemental zinc fed from day 85 of gestation to farrowing 4. Early/Late - 600 ppm supplemental zinc fed from weaning to day 50 of gestation and day 85 of gestation to farrowing Experimental diets will follow typical industry diets based on corn and soybean meal. All diets will be formulated to meet or exceed NRC (2012) nutrient requirements and be consistent with the cooperating farm's existing sow gestation diet. Supplemental zinc will be supplied by zinc sulfate to be consistent with our previous work. Animals, Housing, and Allotment. We will use about 150 sows of mixed parity sows per treatment. Weekly farrowing groups will be used over a period of 3 to 5 weeks to limit seasonal effects on sow performance. Sows will be individually fed from weaning to farrowing. Sows will likely be housed individually through breeding then moved to group housing with some type of electronic sow feeder that has capabilities to deliver 2 to 4 different diets to a pen.All sows will be identified individually using ear tags.Sows will be randomly allotted within parity to dietary treatments in each contemporary farrowing group. Animal Care.Daily care will be provided by farm staff andUniversity of Minnesota staff will be present to collect research data. Sows will be fed the allotted diet in the amount specified by the cooperating farm. Sows will be observed daily for health and comfort to identify any depressed, sick, or injured sows. Sows will be treated as necessary and treated sows will be identified and recorded according to the farm Standard Operating Procedures. Piglets will be processed according to the farm SOP. Piglets may be cross-fostered within treatment group within 48 hours of birth.Litters of small pigs may be assembled within treatment groups within 48 hours of birth.Cross-fostering later in lactation will be minimized as much as possible. Barn staff will be encouraged to save as many low birthweight pigs as possible. However, some euthanasia of very small piglets likely will be necessary. Piglet euthanasia will be according to the farm SOP. Piglet ID, sex, weight, and reason for euthanasia must be recorded. We need to know the farm's policy on dealing with very low birthweight pigs. Prompt euthanasia of these pigs will need to be considered in collection and analysis of data. Data Collection Feed: Similar to our previous trials, Zn will be supplemented in distinct gestation diets, we will need a premix with concentrated zinc.A composite sample of each batch of Zn premix will be collected to verify zinc concentration.Random samples of feed supplied to sows in each treatment will be collected initially and subsequently every second week to verify zinc supplementation targets were met. Samples will be sent to a commercial laboratory for proximate and mineral analysis. Animals:Sows will be assigned body condition scores determined from a body condition caliper placed at the last rib of the sow at initiation and completion of dietary treatments and at weaning. Feed allotment for sows throughout the experiment will be recorded. At farrowing and in lactation.University of Minnesota personnel will visit the farm ahead of the experiment to explain the project to the farm personnel and to collect information about farrowing SOP, day- one management, and post weaning management. This research protocol will be modified accordingly.Sow farrowing performance (farrowing date/time, number of pigs born alive, total born, stillborns, and mummies) will be recorded according to farm SOP. Individual piglets will be identified with color-coded ear tags to match assigned sow dietary treatment within 12 hours of birth.Individual piglet sex, and birth weight will be recorded within 12 hours of birth.Pre-wean mortality will be retrieved from farm records. At weaning. One day prior to weaning, individual piglet weight will be recorded.Litter size at weaning will be recorded.Sow caliper measurement of body condition will be recorded. Postweaning. Sows: The interval to estrus for sows will be collected from concurrent farm data collection.Sow performance at the next farrowing will be retrieved from farm records.Weaned pigs will be followed to market weight. We will monitor growth performance and mortality of pigs from weaning to market weight.Pigs will be identified with colored eartags according to zinc treatments of their dams. Pigs will be fed and managed according to the farm SOP's with the same diets and management across zinc treatments.Number of pigs monitored will be dictated by capabilities of the farm/system cooperating in this experiment. Hopefully we can follow at least 150 pigs per treatment through to market weight. Reference: Hammers KL, Urriola PE, Schwartz M, Ryu MS, Gomez A, Johnston LJ. Timing of dietary zinc additions during gestation for improved piglet survival. Transl Anim Sci. 2024 Mar 8;8:txae030. doi: 10.1093/tas/txae030. PMID: 38510065; PMCID: PMC10953792.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We further developed the research to complete the stated goals: 1) to assess the inter-generational impact of maternal zinc supplementation on the functional biological changes in newborn piglets through transcriptome and cytokine analyses. All aspects of data collecting and analyses were completed. Likewise, the transcriptomic analyses were completed and the student is writing a manuscript for publication. 2) To determine the functional changes in the microbiome of sows and newborn pigs from sows fed two dietary zinc levels, and associate these microbial responses to observed improved pig survival. Fecal microbiome samples were processed, sequenced, and analyzed. Samples of milk are in the process for computational analysis.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Hammers KL, Urriola PE, Schwartz M, Ryu MS, Gomez A, Johnston LJ. Timing of dietary zinc additions during gestation for improved piglet survival. Transl Anim Sci. 2024 Mar 8;8:txae030. doi: 10.1093/tas/txae030. PMID: 38510065; PMCID: PMC10953792.
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Progress 01/01/22 to 12/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience is a diverse set of professionals in the animal science and veterinary medicine space. Consequently, aportion of the results have been presented to the Animal Science and Veterinary community in several ways. Conference proceedings and abstract: Hammers, K. L., P. E. Urriola, M. Schwartz, M. S. Ryu, L. J. Johnston, and A. Gomez. 2023. Awardee Talk: Timing of dietary zinc supplementation during gestation did not affect trace element concentration in sows and their piglets. J. Anim. Sci. 101:Suppl. 2 (105 abstr.). Hammers, K. L., P. E. Urriola, M. Schwartz, M. S. Ryu, A. Gomez, and L. J. Johnston. 2023. Effect of birth weight on tissue copper, iron, and zinc concentrations in piglets. J. Anim. Sci. 101:Suppl. 2 (113 abstr.). Hammers, K. L., P. E. Urriola, M. Schwartz, M. S. Ryu, A. Gomez, L. J. Johnston. 2022. Timing of dietary zinc additions during gestation for improved piglet survival. J. of Anim. Sci. 100, Issue Supplement_2, May 2022, Pages 56-57,https://doi.org/10.1093/jas/skac064.090 Review manuscripts: Shurson, G.C. and P. E. Urriola. 2022. Sustainable swine feeding programs require the convergence of multiple dimensions of circular agriculture and food systems with One Health. Animal Frontiers 12:30-40. doi.org/10.1093/af/vfac077 Shurson, G. C., P. E. Urriola, and Y. T. Hung. 2022. Too much of a good thing: rethinking feed formulation and feeding practices for zinc to achieve one health and environmental sustainability. Animals 12(23), 3374. doi.org/10.3390/ani12233374 Producer and practitioner oriented magazines: Hammers, K. P. E. Urriola, A. Gomez, M. Schwartz, and L. J. Johnston. 2023. Zinc supplementation in gestation diets. National Hog Farmer. April 13, 2023. Available: https://www.nationalhogfarmer.com/nutrition/zinc-supplementation-gestating-sow-diets Changes/Problems:We have encounter two major setbacks. First, the University of Minnesota sequencing core is working delayed after COVID. Many of the projects are taking longer time than expected. We have been able to accomplish the majority of steps in sequencing more more samples are still to be processed. The second issue has been related to sequencing microbiota in samples with low microbiota concentration and high concentration of host DNA such as milk samples. We have used different DNA extraction kits in order to increase microbial DNA yield and exclude host DNA. This is a methodology that we found not clearly described in the literature. We think that this new methodology of DNA extraction will be a contribution to the scientific community and we will prepare a technical report. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The project has trained a graduate student (PhD) who was involved in all aspects of project development, data collection, data analysis, and presentations at scientitic meetings. The student is in the process of developing a manuscript. The project also gave the opportunity to three undergraduate students to learn about research data collection, data processing, and analysis. The project gave opportunity to two post-doctoral research associates to train their ability to guide graduate students in the process of research execution. The group of investigators have learned from each other many aspects of zinc physiology, cell metabolims, and applied aspects of on farn research experimentation. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Yes, the data have been presented at the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), the Allen D. Leman Swine Conference, and in newsletters and extension oriented magazines. A manuscript for peer-review publication is under development. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The graduate student is working on completion of research objective 3.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
The impact of zinc supplementation in sow offpring performance has been observed in past experiments but it was not clear if the practice can be implemented under the conditions of commercial pig farms. In association with a commercial pig farm in Minnesotaa new experiment was conducted.An excerpt of the abstract presented at the American Sociate of Animal Scienceis presented here.In the new experiment, 267 gestating sows were used to determine if timing of high dietary zinc supplementation in a commercial setting would reduce pre-weaning mortality of pigs. A second objective was to measureif gestationdietary zinc intakeinfluence maternal and piglet copper (Cu), iron (Fe), and zinc (Zn) concentrations.Sows from three consecutive weekly farrowing groups were assigned randomly within parity to one of three dietary treatments consisting of: 1) Control: a corn-soybean meal diet containing 125 ppm supplemental Zn supplied by zinc hydroxychloride. This is a common practice among farms in the US. 2) Breed-to-Farrow(B-to-F): as Control + 141 ppm supplemental Zn as ZnSO4(266 ppm total supplemental Zn) fed from 5 days after breeding until sows farrowed; this treatment represents a simple method to deliver all the zinc distributed along the gestation period.3) Day 110-to-Farrow(D110-to-F): as the Control diet fed from breeding to farrowing + 2,715 ppm supplemental Zn as ZnSO4(2,840 ppm total supplemental Zn) starting on day 110 of gestation until farrowing. There is concern that high intake of zinc during gestation would alter Cu, Fe, and Zn status of sows and the offspring. Therefore, asubset of ten sows per treatment (n = 30; average parity = 3) were selected to assess Cu, Fe, and Zn concentrations of serum, colostrum, and milk. Sera were isolated from blood collections at allotment and the day before each sow's respective farrowing date. Colostrum was collected the day of farrowing and milk on day 2 of lactation. At farrowing, two average and two low birth weight pigs from each sow (n = 122) were selected for collections of serum and tail samples at days 1 and 2 of age, respectively. The statistical model included fixed effects of treatment, farrowing group, and the random effect of their interaction. The piglet model was similar but included the random term of pig nested within sow. There were no differences in concentrations of Cu, Fe, and Zn in sow serum, milk, or colostrum attributable to dietary treatment. Piglet serum concentrations of Cu, Fe, and Zn were unaffected by feeding gestating sows high levels of supplemental zinc at any time. Low birth weight pigs born to sows fed the Control diet tended (P= 0.082) to have increased concentrations of Cu in tails compared to pigs born to sows fed high zinc. In conclusion, timing of dietary zinc supplementation to gestating sows had minimal influence on concentrations of important trace elements in sows and their offspring.Overall, feeding elevated zinc to sows throughout gestation increased the proportion of pigs born alive and marginally increased survival of normal birth weight pigs.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Shurson, G.C. and P. E. Urriola. 2022. Sustainable swine feeding programs require the convergence of multiple dimensions of circular agriculture and food systems with One Health. Animal Frontiers 12:30-40. doi.org/10.1093/af/vfac077
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Hammers, K. L., P. E. Urriola, M. Schwartz, M. S. Ryu, L. J. Johnston, and A. Gomez. 2023. Awardee Talk: Timing of dietary zinc supplementation during gestation did not affect trace element concentration in sows and their piglets. J. Anim. Sci. 101:Suppl. 2 (105 abstr.).
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Hammers, K. L., P. E. Urriola, M. Schwartz, M. S. Ryu, A. Gomez, and L. J. Johnston. 2023. Effect of birth weight on tissue copper, iron, and zinc concentrations in piglets. J. Anim. Sci. 101:Suppl. 2 (113 abstr.).
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