Báo cáo nghiên cứu khoa học " SOME TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS SUITABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SMALLHOLDER PIG PRODUCTION IN QUANG TRI AND THUA THIEN - HUE PROVINCES " doc

Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development CARD ProgramSOME TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS SUITABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SMALLHOLDER PIG PRODUCTION IN QUANG TRI AND THUA THIEN - HUE PROVINCE

Collaboration for Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) Program

SOME TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS SUITABLE FOR DEVELOPMENT

OF SMALLHOLDER PIG PRODUCTION IN QUANG TRI AND THUA

THIEN - HUE PROVINCES Project title: A blueprint for sustainable smallholder pig production in Central Vietnam

Code of the project: CARD 004/05 VIE

Author(s): Duyen T.T.B.1, Do N.T.2, Linh N.Q.3, Darren T.4et al

Project Implementing organisations:

1 National Institute of Animal Husbandry (NIAH), Vietnam 2

National Institute of Veterinary Research (NIVR), Vietnam 3

Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, Vietnam 4

University of Queensland, Australia

SUMMARY

Mong Cai pigs are mainly kept in the rural households (80-90% of the local sow population) in two provinces of Thua Thien Hue and Quang Tri, where the climate is extremely harsh with frequent floods and droughts Smallholder animal production with little capital and lack of knowledge and experience has hindered the application of new technical advances or new breeds with high

performance Under the funding of the project CARD-004/05-VIE, a study entitled "Some technical solutions suitable for development of smallholder pig production in Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue"

has been carried out since 2008 The primary results showed that:

- Breeding solution: The genetic improvement of the local MC breeds was done by introduction of

breeding Mong Cai pigs (boars and sows) from the northern provinces for pure breeding with local pigs Results showed a significant increase in the number of piglets weaned per litter, ranging from 9.87 to 10.81 piglets between before and after the improvement, respectively

- Housing solutions: The type of house for sow considerably affects on the number of piglets weaned

per litter and weight gain per day The number of piglets weaned per litter in the new house style is 11.2 piglets while 8.2 piglets were found in the old house type Average daily gain of 126.25 g was recorded in the new house type whereas it is 107 g in the old house type

- The technical solution: heating technique and training to eat early for piglet result in increasing

number of piglets weaned per litter (10.8 piglets compared to 9.80 piglets) and shorten the weaning time of piglets from 45 days to 30-35 days of age as well as increase the number of litters per sow per year from 2 to 2.35 litters

- E coli vaccine for the control of Colibacillosis in suckling pigs: recording data including piglets born

alive, stillbirths, mummies or (died before parturition), deformities e.g splay legs, abortion alive There is significant difference between vaccinated and control groups (P<0.05) Particularly, the prevalence of piglets with diarrhoea in the first 3 weeks of life from vaccinated group were significant lower compared to control group (P<0.05)

- A profit per sow per year in the group of sows involved in the project is higher than that in the remaining group (1,162,045 VND compared to 372,663 VND, respectively)

Conclusion: The application of comprehensive technical solutions in the MC pig production in the

smallholder farmers leads to increase the productivity of the sow and brings high economic efficiency for them

Keywords: Mong Cai pigs, pig breeding, Mong Cai pig husbandry technology, housing design.

1 Introduction

Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue provinces are

located in the South Central Coast of Vietnam

They are always influenced by the harsh

climate throughout the year The soil slopes

and is always eroded by floods, and droughts

occur frequently Pig production is mainly

based on smallholder farmers with little capital

and lack of husbandry knowledge

Mong Cai pigs are raised mainly in the

smallholder farmers 80-90% of the total sow

population are kept for breeding resources

purpose These breeding pigs, however, have

low reproductive performance This is due to

many causes, one of which is high level of

inbreeding Introgression of high performance

and healthy Mong Cai pigs into the local MC

pigs to improve their genetic potential is

effective in the breeding program In addition,

the knowledge and skills in husbandry

technology, hygiene and disease prevention,

management and environmental protection

should be enhanced to support the smallholder

farmers

Application research of advanced technology

solution appropriate to local economic – social

conditions is necessary and needs urgent

attention Under the financial support of the

project CARD-004/05-VIE, we conducted the

study entitled "Some technical solutions

suitable for development of smallholder pig

production in Quang Tri and Thua Thien

Hue”.

The main objective of the project is to increase

reproductive performance of Mong Cai sow

stock and economic efficiency for smallholder

farmers In addition, the project contribute to

the development of genetic resources of local

pure Mong Cai pigs in the central coastal

region

2.1 Study populations

The study was carried out in two provinces of

Quang tri and Thua Thien Hue In Quang Tri

province, two communes of Hai Phu and Hai

Thuong, which belongs to Hai Lang district,

Quang An and Quang Tho communes of Hai Lang district was included Pure Mong Cai breeding sows (MC) kept in the smallholder farmers of these four communes were used for this study

2.2 Research contents and methodology

2.2.1 Improvement of performance of the local MC pigs by pure breeding program

o Introgression the MC breeding sows / males collected from the Northern provinces into the MC male / sow kept

in the study areas

o To monitor and evaluate the productivity of the MC pig stocks

2.2.2 Study on the effect of house type and nestbox to reproductive performance of sows and growth of piglets

o Influence of house type:

- New house type: The pig house was separated from the kitchen The pig house was upgraded with 4 roofs (designed by experts of the CARD project)

- Old house type: The pig house located in or near the kitchen with the phibro cement or tole roof of poor ventilation

o Effect of nestboxes to the number of piglets weaned and the growth ability

of piglets

- A total of 20 MC sows was selected and randomly divided into two groups (10 sows per group) Experimental group was supplied a nestbox (designed by Project CARD) to protect young piglets from cold weather and the control group was not provided the nestbox

- Temperature, humidity and heat index (HI) of all pig houses were daily measured in both groups by using the measuring machine

"Pocket Weather Tracker (Kestrel 4000)."

Duyen T.T.B., Darren T., Do N.T & Linh N.Q.

2.2.3 Application research of the E coli

vaccines in preventing the diarrhoea

disease in pigs during 10 days of age

o Identification the cause of diarrhoea:

faecal samples were obtained from

suckling piglets with diarrhoea All

samples were tested for the presence of

TGE, Rota, E coli K99 by ELISA test;

E coli, Salmonella, Clostridium

perfringens by isolation and

confirmation tests; Cocci oocysts by

standard faecal flotation

o Safety and efficacy testing of vaccine

in a small scale trial: Pregnant sows

each received intramuscularly 2 ml of

vaccine (1st at 3-4 weeks before

farrowing; 2nd at 2-3 weeks before

farrowing)

o Piglets born from vaccinated and

unvaccinated sows were recorded for

the following data: piglets born alive,

stillbirths, mummies or (died before

parturition), deformities e.g splay

legs, abortion, number of piglets with

diarrhoea (week 1, 2 3)

2.3.4 Evaluation of application efficiency in

the alignment of all solutions

o Economic efficiency: Analysis of

finance of each part and investment

efficiency, i.e., total cost / litter, total

income / litter and profits / litter

Statistical analysis: The data was analysed

based on statistical method in biology using the Minitab program version 13.0

3.1 Improvement of productivity of the local MC pig by pure breeding program

To assess the effectiveness of this work, we compared the performance of the MC pigs before and after pure breeding program The results are presented in Table 1

The objective of the project is to increase the litter size from 11 piglets before the pure breeding program to 11.50 piglets after the pure breeding program However, the litter size of 11.43 piglets was obtained in this study which increases by only 0.33 piglet compared

to the litter size before the pure breeding program This limitation could be due to the impact of the Blue Ear disease which has affected the productivity of pigs Although statistically they are no significant difference (P> 0.05), but in fact the litter size of MC pig has been raised Compared to the previous reports, this result is higher than the result of Nguyen Que Coi et al (2005) and lower than the results of Le Van Sang et al (2008) who found that the litter size is 11.07 piglets and 11.92 piglets, respectively

Table 1: Comparison of performance of the Mong Cai sow stock before and after the pure breeding

program

Criteria

The number of piglets born alive/litter 128 10.73a 1.60 193 11.09a 2.50

Number of piglets to rear / litter (piglet) 128 10.17a 1.32 193 10.97b 2.22 Number of piglets weaned/ litter (piglet) 128 9.87a 1.22 193 10.81b 2.11

a,b: P <0.05; 0.01

Figures 1&2 High performance Pure Mong Cai replacement gilts approaching target weight to be artificially inseminated with exotic boar semen

Litter size is important criteria in the breeding

sow production The number of piglets born

alive/litter has increased from 10.73 before the

pure breeding program to 11.09 piglets after

the pure breeding program This increase was

not significant difference (P > 0.05) This

study is in agreement with the finding of 11.03

piglets reported by Tuyen et al (2008) but

higher than the report of 10.12 piglets in the

study of Tiep et al (2009)

Number of piglets to rear/litter highly depends

on the number of piglets born alive/litter and

the quality of piglets born The difference on

the number of piglets to rear/litter between

before and after the pure breeding program

(10.17 and 10.97 piglets, respectively) is

statistically significant (P <0.05)

The number of piglets weaned is the most

important criterion for assessing the

productivity of sows Results showed that the

number of piglets weaned found after pure

breeding program is very high compared to

that before the program (10.81 piglets vs 9.87

piglets) This finding is higher than the recent

reports of 9.54 and 9.61 piglets in the studies

of Sang et al (2008) and Tuyen et al (2008),

respectively

Body weight at birth is directly influenced by

the number of piglets born alive Variation of

this indicator before and after the program is

6.23 kg and 6.70 kg, respectively (P> 0, 05)

This result is higher than the report of Thien et

al (1999) who reported that the body weight at birth is 6.09 kg

Weaning weight/litter of the two groups before and after the program is 57.67 kg and 53.74

kg, respectively This difference is essentially due to differences in weaning time (42.50 and 37.24 days, respectively) but not statistically significant (P> 0.05) The weaning weight is highly influenced by the number of piglets weaned and the weaning time This result is in agreement with results of Thien et al (1999) who reported that the weaning weight varied from 51.10 kg to 54.77 kg

Comments: The above results show that the

pure breeding program between MC pig groups to improve genetics of the local MC has brought great efficiency Reproductive performance of sows has increased Although

it is not statistically significant (P> 0.05), in terms of practical production, this rise is extremely important Specially, increase in the number of piglets weaned is significantly different (P <0.05)

3.2 Effect of house type and nestbox on reproductive performance of sows and growth of piglets

3.2.1 Effect of house type on reproductive performance of sows

 The environmental factors in the house

Duyen T.T.B., Darren T., Do N.T & Linh N.Q.

Table 2 Temperature, humidity and wind speed in the new and old house type

Factor

n Old house type New house type

X ± SD X ± SD Temperature (0C) Temperature 30 22.19

a

± 4.51 25.62b± 2.72 Heating index (HI) 30 19.58a± 5.51 23.2b± 2.07

a

± 7.13 81.9b

± 5.04

a,b: P<0.05; 0.01

Temperature, HI and humidity of the new

house type and old house type are significantly

different (P <0.05) This indicates that

improvement of the house results in lower

temperature and more ventilation in the house

 The impact of house types to the

reproductive performance of sows

Table 3 shows that although the number of

piglets born live/litter between the two types of

new and old house is not statistically different,

there is significant increase (P <0.001) in number of piglets weaned /litter of the type raised in the new house, suggesting that this indicator has been enhanced by improvements

of micro-climates in the new house style while using the box for piglet learn how to eat and heat lamps for piglets Our results are lower than the findings of some authors such as Duyet (2006) and Duong (1999) The reason could be due to the influence of blue ear disease occurred in the areas

Table 3 Productivity of sows raised in the new house type and the old house type

New house type New house type

X ± SD X ± SD The number of piglets born alive/litter 12 10.47 ± 1.53 11.12 ± 2.57 The number of piglets weaned /litter 12 8.2 ± 2.16a

9.25 ± 1.22b Weight gain per day (g/day) 12 107 ± 15.42a

126.25 ± 19.50b

a,b: P<0.05; 0.01

Fig 3 Old house type Bedding was manually

removed using brooms

Fig 4 New house type with more ventilation

There is significant differences (P <0.01) on

weight gain per day before weaning of piglets

in the two groups of sows which are kept in

two types of house (107 g/day in an old house

compared to 126.25 g /day in the new house

style) Number of litter have infected the

Diarrhea disease between two types of houses

are different but there is no statistically

significant

However, during experiment, it is very cold and this hard weather is longer than the previous years In the new house, piglets were kept in house with better climate temperature and humidity

3.2.2 Effect of nestbox on reproductive performance of sows and growth of piglets

Table 4 Temperature, humidity and heat index of the control and experimental group

Control (n = 10)

Experiment

μ ± SE μ ± SE

Temperature

Morning oC 24.7 ± 0.51 26.0 ± 0.14 0.02 Noon oC 27.5 ± 0.12 28.4 ± 0.14 0.01 Afternoon oC 25.6 ± 0.11 26.8 ± 0.12 0.01

Afternoon % 89.0 ± 0.15 85.8 ± 0.29 0.01

Heat index (HI)

Morning oC 27.3 ± 0.18 28.8 ± 0.24 0.01 Noon oC 35.1 ± 1.37 34.1 ± 0.35 0.63 Afternoon oC 29.9 ± 0.23 32.6 ± 1.56 0.02

The results in Table 4 indicates that the

nestbox significantly improves environment

for the newborn piglets (P<0.01) In the cold

and wet winter in the central areas (the

experimental group was kept in warmer

temperature, lower humidity which is more

suitable for the piglets than the control group)

In order to assess influence of nestbox on reproductive performance of the MC sow kept

in the smallholder farmers, we monitored the reproduction criteria of the sows The results are presented in Table 5

Fig 5&6 Suckling piglets warding off winter ‘chill’ in a creep box

Duyen T.T.B., Darren T., Do N.T & Linh N.Q.

Table 5 Reproductive performance of the MC sows in the control and experimental groups

(µ±SE)

Experiment (µ±SE)

P

2 Number of piglet weaned piglet/ litter 9.80±0.20 10.8±0.39 0.03

9 Feed consumption to produce 1kg of

weaning piglet

Kg TA/kg LW 5.38±0.11 4.31±0.09 0.01

Table 5 shows that the litter size and weight at

birth is no difference between the two groups

(P> 0.05), but number of piglets weaned,

weaning weight and feed consumption to

produce one kg of weaned pigs have

significant differences between two groups (p

That means the use of nestbox for the piglet at

the newborn period have provided a favorable

environment for piglets (avoiding heat stress

after birth for piglets, providing warm and dry

environment for newborn piglet which results

in the lowest heat loss of piglets) Farrowed

sow are cool and increase intake, milk

production as well as improve the economic

efficiency

Comments: The new house type designed by

the CARD project improves productivity of the

MC sows Their separation from the house of

the farmers contributes to reduce

environmental pollution

Use of nestbox prevents heat stress for the

piglets after birth (dry clean, warm, low

humidity), health promotion and growth rate

for pigs nursing In addition, different

requirement on temperature between farrowed

sows and piglets are solved

3.3 Application of E coli vaccine for the

control of colibacillosis in suckling

pigs

Results of investigation on some of the most

common pathogens causing diarrhoea in

piglets in Quang Tri and Thua Thien - Hue before vaccine trial are shown in Table 6 It is shown that: Rota and TGE viruses are among the most common pathogens (78.16% and

65.52%); next by parasites (Isospora suis

28.84%, Cryptospridium 14.94%) and bacteria

(E coli 35.63%, C perfringens 12.64%).

These findings are in consistent with some previous reports (Do et al, 2006)

Table 6 Results on detection of some most

common pathogens

Pathogen

Result

No of positive samples/Total %

Results on health status of piglets born from vaccinated and non-vaccinated sows are shown

in Table 7

Table 7 Recorded criteria from vaccinated and unvaccinated sows

(n=159)

Control (Unvaccinated) group (n=14)

Prevalence of diarrhoea (%):

- Week 1:

- Week 2:

- Week 3:

16.1 22.7 26.5

48.1 33.8 37.5

It is shown that there are significant

differences on the numbers of piglets born

alive, stillbirths, mummies or (died before

parturition), deformities e.g splay legs,

abortion between the two groups (P<0.05)

Particularly, the prevalence of diarrhoea

piglets among the first 3 weeks of life was

lower in vaccinated group compared to control

group (P<0.05)

Results on examination of faecal samples from

diarrhoea piglets born from vaccinated and

unvaccinated (control) sows, once again show

very interesting findings (Table 8) TGEV, RV

and Cocci prevalence were not significantly

different between vaccinated or non-vaccinated groups; C perfringens was only found in non-vaccinated group None of the E coli isolates obtained from vaccinated group possessed toxin genes, whilst the E coli strains isolated from the non-vaccinated group all still carried STa, STb and/or LT toxin genes This study demonstrated that the implementation of

locally produced E coli vaccine, not only

reduced the prevalence of pre-weaning diarrhoea, but also may suppress the presence

of toxigenic E coli strains in the gut of piglets

Table 8 Summary of faecal examination from piglets with diarrhoea

Vaccinated group (n=29) Control (n=8)

3.4 Evaluation of applying technical

solutions

In 2009, cessation of the PRRS epidemic and

stable pig prices coincided with major

advancements in farmers’ knowledge and

skills base so that it was possible, through

number of pigs sold/sow/year The majority of farmers sold their weaners at 6-8 weeks of age

at 25,000-30,000 VND/kg

A final survey of randomly selected control and demonstration farms was completed in Dec-Feb 2009 with 30 farms/each group In

Duyen T.T.B., Darren T., Do N.T & Linh N.Q.

was submitted as an attachment with each

electronic record The results showed that in

table 9

Table 9 Economical efficiency of sow raising/litter (VND)

1 Production performance

- Weaning weight/litter at 45 day for the control

group and 35 day for the project group 7.07 ± 1.38 7.05 ± 0.45

2 Economical efficiency: (VND)

- Input cost (VND/litter)

- Output cost (VND/litter)

Price of piglets at 37 - 45 days of age (VND/kg) 25,000 25,000

Results in table above shows, the application

of technical advances in MC pigs has increased

the productivity of pigs Compared with the

control group, the project farms have number

piglet weaned/litter higher (9.46 piglet vs 9.09

piglet) and number litter/sow/year is higher

(2.3 vs 2 litter/sow/year), the reason is due to

the piglets are weaned earlier leading to the

suckling time will be shorter and reduce

attrition rate of sow after weaning, return

heating rate of sow will be increased, more

stable income from selling pigs

Estimated economic efficiency through

parameters such as total input/litter; Total

output/litter showed that Applying technical

advances improved profit/sow/year in the

project farms (1,162,045 VND vs 372,663

VND in the control farms)

Overall, efficiency/invested capital in project farms was higher than in control farm In the project farms in order to obtain 1000 VND profit needed to invest 2,7450 VND while needed to invest 8,830VND in the control farm

The best demonstration farms in Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue achieved 20-22 pigs sold/sow/year The majority of piglets were of

uniform size with excellent growth rates.

Poorly fed sows with chronic mange do not

breed as well and need to be replaced whereas

healthy high performance Mong Cai have

higher conception, birth and weaning rates In

addition, the successful incorporation of biogas

production for cooking, composting with

earthworms, effluent disposal, integrated

farming practices and overall increased

knowledge and skills through being an active

member of a Farmer Club, provided farmers

with many intangible benefits and increased

profits By far the greatest benefit was

prevention of preweaning diarrhoea by

vaccination using the E coli vaccine, treatment

of 3-5 day-old piglets with a single treatment

of toltrazuril for coccidiosis (Baycox) and

provision of a clean, dry and warm creep area

and eradication of mange

o The application of comprehensive

technical solutions on breed, pig housing,

creepbox for piglet and vaccination E coli

vaccine for the control of Colibacillosis in

suckling pigs in the MC pig production

leads to increase the productivity of the

MC sow especially the average number

piglet weaned/litter was 9.46 piglets in the

project farms vs 9.09 piglet in the control

farms The suckling time was reduced

from 42 days to 37 days while the

weaning weight/piglet was equivalent

(7.07 vs 7.05 kg/piglet, respectively)

Litter number/sow/year was also

improved (2.35 vs 2 litter/sow/year,

respectively)

o Pig production under household condition

in Quang Tri and Thua Thien Hue with

the application comprehensive technical

solution was successful and brings high

economic efficiency for them (1,162,045

VND vs 372,663 VND at the farms out of

the project)

o To replicate the model MC pigs with high

economic efficiency after the project

ends, it is necessary to connect the Mong

experiences, knowledge and achievements

References

1 Coi N.Q., Hoa D.V., Bien D.H and Cam N.N., 2005 Some solution to

development pig for meat purpose suitable with pig raising under household

condition in Quang tri province Science report, NIAH, 2005.

2 Do NT, Cu HP, Van TH, Nguyen XH,

Au XT, Vu NQ, Fahy VA, Driesen SJ, Moore K, Vanderfeen A, and Trott DJ.

2006 Prevalence of the six most common

infectious causes of pre-weaning diarrhoea in piglets in Vietnam

Proceedings of the 19 th IPVS Congress, Copenhagen, Denmark, July 16-19, 2006 International Pig Veterinary Society

2006 p 318.

3 Duyet H.N., 2006. Reproductive performance of Mong Cai breed in Central Vietnam, PhD thesis Hue University, 2006.

4 Duong N.K., 1999. Comparing the reproductive performance between Mong Cai local breed and Yorkshire in Central Vietnam, National conference’s Proceedings in Animal Husbandry and Veterinary medicine in Hue, 1999.

5 Sang L.V (2008). Reproduction performance of pure MC herd in Bac Giang, Hai Phong and Quang Tri

provinces) Msc thesis P: 56 – 57.

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16, Feb, 2009

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MC PhD