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Pig Journal Volume: 47
Publication date: April 2001

Refereed Section

THE EFFECT OF VACCINATION AGAINST Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae ON HEALTH AND SOME PRODUCTION PARAMETERS IN OUTDOOR AND INDOOR UNITS
A. Docic and G. Bilkei

Abstract
To determine the effect of vaccination on indoor and outdoor pigs the following trial was conducted. Four hundred and thirty piglets were randomly allocated to vaccinated or non-vaccinated indoor and outdoor groups (G). The trial was conducted during spring - summer, under pleasant continental weather conditions
The following parameters were evaluated:
  • Antibody levels against Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae (MH),
  • Lung lesions,
  • Average Daily Gain (ADG),
  • Food Conversion Ratio (FCR).
    The majority of indoor animals showed positive titres at slaughter against MH (G1, 76.02 % and G2, 76.80 %) while the outdoor animals showed, in both groups, more than 90 % negative (G3, 94.41 % vs. G 4, 91.69 %).
  • The indoor non-vaccinated animals (G2) presented highly significantly more lung lesions (P<0.001). The MH antibody titres were positively correlated (P<0.05) with the severity of lung lesions at slaughter.
  • With ADG there was a significant difference between the indoor non-vaccinated pigs (G2) when compared to the other groups (P<0.001). FC showed no differences between the 4 groups.
The authors conclude that in unfavourable indoor environments, vaccination of pigs for MH is possibly a way to improve production. On outdoor units MH vaccination (even where there is a high prevalence of MH) does not significantly improve the performance of the animals.

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