Assessment of immunization procedures for foot-and-mouth disease in large-scale pig farms in China based on actual data and dynamics

Foot-and-mouth disease(FMD)is an acute,highly infectious and pathogenic animal disease.In recent years,with the rapid development of the swine breeding industry in China,pig farms have shown a trend of larger-scale development.Large-scale pig farms employ standardized management,a high level of automation,and a strict_system.However,these farms have a large trading volume,and increased transmission intensity of FMD is noted inside the farm.At present,the main control measure against FMD is pig vaccination.However,a standard for immunization procedures is not available,and currently adopted immunization procedures have not been effectively and systematically evaluated.Taking a typical large-scale pig farm in China as the research subject and considering the breeding pattern,piggery structure,age structure and immunization procedures,an individual-based state probability model is established to evaluate the effectiveness of the immune procedure.Based on numerical simulation,it is concluded that the optimal immunization program involves primary immunization at 40 days of age and secondary immunization at 80 days of age for commercial pigs.Breeding boars and breeding sows are immunized 4 times a year,and reserve pigs are immunized at 169 and 259 days of age.According to the theoretical analysis,the average control reproduction number of individuals under the optimal immunization procedure in the farm is 0.4927.In the absence of immunization,the average is 1.7498,indicating that the epidemic cannot be controlled without immunization procedures.

Driving factors of direct greenhouse gas emissions from China's pig industry from 1976 to 2016

Livestock cultivation is a significant source of greenhouse gas(GHG) emissions, accounting for 14.5% of the total anthropogenic emissions. China is responsible for a considerable share of the global livestock emissions, particularly caused by pork production. We used the Kaya identity and the logarithmic mean Divisia index(LMDI) to decompose the national annual GHG emissions from enteric fermentation and manure management in pig farming in China from 1976 to 2016. We decomposed the sources of the emissions into five driving factors:(1) technological progress(e.g., feed improvement);(2) structural adjustment in the livestock sector;(3) structural adjustment in agriculture;(4) affluence;and(5) population growth. The results showed that the net GHG emissions from the pig sector in China increased 16 million tons(Mt) of carbon dioxide equivalents(CO2 eq) during the study period. The decomposition analysis revealed that structural adjustment in agriculture, growing affluence, and population growth contributed to an increase of the GHG emissions of pork production by 23, 41, and 13 Mt CO2 eq, respectively. The technological progress and structural changes in animal husbandry mitigated emissions by –51 and –11 Mt CO2 eq, respectively. Further technological progress in pig production and optimizing the economic structures are critical for further reducing GHG emissions in China's pig industry. Our results highlight the dominant role of technological changes for emission reductions in the pig farming.

Treatment Effect of Pig Manure-derived Biochar-based Metal Catalyst for Pig Breeding Wastewater

[Objectives]To treat pig farm wastewater and solve the problem of pollution caused by it to surface water or groundwater.[Methods]Fe and Zn/biochar(AC)was prepared by dipping method using pig manure-derived biochar as carrier.The preparation conditions were investigated,and the screened metal-loaded biochar was characterized.Pig farm waste water was treated with metal-loaded biochar-H2O2 catalytic oxidation method.[Results]At the COD concentration of 2904 mg/L,0.02 g Zn/AC and 0.005 mL H2O2 showed the highest COD removal rate(qe)from pig breeding wastewater under conditions of reaction time of 8 h,pH value of 7 and temperature of 55℃,reaching 70.98%.[Conclusions]Fe or Zn-loaded biochar made from pig manure-derived activated carbon has a certain catalytic capacity for the actual oxidation treatment of pig farm wastewater.The activity of Zn/AC was higher,and its COD removal rate from pig farm wastewater was also higher.

An Industrial Internet Platform for Massive Pig Farming (IIP4MPF)

Pig farming is becoming a key industry of China’s rural economy in recent years. The current pig farming is still relatively manual, lack of latest Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and scientific management methods. This paper proposes an industrial internet platform for massive pig farming, namely, IIP4MPF, which aims to leverage intelligent pig breeding, production rate and labor productivity with the use of artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and big data intelligence. We conducted requirement analysis for IIP4MPF using software engineering methods, designed the IIP4MPF system for an integrated solution to digital, interconnected, intelligent pig farming. The practice demonstrates that the IIP4MPF platform significantly improves pig farming industry in pig breeding and productivity.

Disinfection Effects and Clinical Application of Sodium Dichloroisocyanurate Powder on Bacteria

With the continuous increase of large-scale pig farms,the disinfection of pig farm environment plays an extremely important part in the control and prevention of pig farm diseases in high-density breeding environment.As an important breeding place for pig farms,the farrowing house must be performed with scientific and standardized disinfection.In this paper,different disinfection modes were used to disinfect the empty farrowing houses of pig farms,and the total plate count,Escherichia coli,Staphylococcus aureus,and fungi were used as detection indicators to comprehensively evaluate the disinfection effect of the air microorganisms and the surface of the objects in the empty house after disinfection,with the aim to provide a basis for the establishment of a scientific pig farm environmental disinfection model.

Occurrence of antibiotics in typical pig farming and its wastewater treatment in Thailand

This study investigated antibiotics in pig feed and drinking water and their excretion together with manure and wastewater at a typical pig farm in Thailand.Among the 21 antibiotics analyzed,tetracyclines,macrolides,b-lactams,aminoglycosides,quinolones,sulfonamides,pleuromutilin,and florfenicol classes,were found as active ingredients in feed and drinking water and excreted together with pig wastes.Among them,doxycycline,tilmicosin,and amoxicillin were detected higher concentrations in wastewater(12.9e459.1 mg L^(-1)),sediment(0.074e0.62 mg kg^(-1)),and pig manure(0.45e4.1 mg kg^(-1)).During wastewater treatment,those major antibiotics were remaining in pond water and settled sludge up to 79.5 mg L-1 and 24.2 mg kg^(-1),respectively.The normalized excretion mass of total antibiotics was determined as 11.2 mg head-1 day-1,contributed mainly from doxycycline(5.9 mg head-1 day-1),tilmicosin(2.8 mg head-1 day-1),and amoxicillin(2.2 mg head-1 day-1).Based on total pig production in Thailand,the excreted mass of antibiotics was estimated at 79.3 tons year-1.

Aerial pollutants on a pig farm in peri-urban Beijing,China

The study was carried out to evaluate the airborne gases and suspended particulate matter concentrations in the pig barns of a commercial pig farm situated in the peri-urban area of Beijing,China.The measurements followed the natural pig life-stages namely:gestation,farrowing,weaning,and fattening.In order to accomplish these objectives,three different measurement devices were employed:(i)color diffusion tubes,(ii)a portable gas measuring device,and(iii)a dust measuring instrument.Due to the rotation of the devices in the different sampling places,the measurements were performed at different time periods during the months of the summer and winter season in Beijing.The pig farm had a capacity of 15000 pigs per year and the manurial system was identified as“gan qing fen”or dry cleaning of the manure.The main by-products generated by the farm were irrigation water and small-scale biogas production.High dust concentrations were identified in the pig barns,especially during the feeding and manure cleaning events inside the farrowing and weaning barns with slatted floors.Inhalable dust ranged from 0 mg/m3 to 12.45 mg/m3,while the allowable dust ranged from 0 mg/m3 to 9.62 mg/m3.Ammonia concentration ranged from 0 ppm to 20 ppm(1 ppm=1 cm3/m3),and the carbon dioxide concentration ranged from 300 ppm to 8000 ppm.The highest ammonia concentration was recorded in the fattening barn during the summer season,while the highest carbon dioxide concentration was reported in the weaning barn during the summer season.The results of this study were similar to the results of studies performed on pig farms under natural and mechanical ventilation systems.On the other hand,the problems encountered during the gas measurements on the pig farm were directly related to the inadequate housing layout due to the obstruction of windows,fans and air channels for indoor ventilation,and thus the measurement devices faced harsh working conditions.Therefore,it is recommended that the housing system should be improved with repaired windows and curtains especially for the winter season;similarly,the repair of the fans should be attempted in order to improve the ventilation,especially in the gestation barns.

Potential regulation of small RNAs on bacterial function activities in pig farm wastewater treatment plants

Small RNAs(sRNAs)are key players in the regulation of bacterial gene expression.However,the distribution and regulatory functions of sRNA in pig farm wastewater treatment plants(WWTPs)remains unknown.In this study,the wastewaters in anoxic and oxic tanks of the WWTPs were collected.The profiles of the community structure,mRNA expression,and sRNA expression of bacteria in pig farm wastewater were investigated using transcriptome sequencing and qPCR.This study demonstrated that there was a higher abundance of sRNA in the pig farm WWTPs and 52 sRNAs were detected.The sRNAs were mainly present in Proteobacteria and Firmicutes,including the potential human pathogenic bacteria(HPB)(Escherichia,Shigella,Bordetella and Morganella),crop pathogen(Pectobacterium)and denitrifying bacteria(Zobellella).And the sRNAs were involved in the bacterial functional activities such as translation,transcription,drug resistance,membrane transport and amino acid metabolism.In addition,most sRNAs had a higher abundance in anoxic tanks which contained a higher abundance of the genes associated with infectious diseases and drug resistance than that in oxic tanks.The results presented here show that in pig farm WWTPs,sRNA played an important role in bacterial function activities,especially the infectious diseases,drug resistance and denitrification,which can provide a new point of penetration for improving the pig farm WWTPs.

Precision Livestock Farming: Precision feeding technologies and sustainable livestock production

In order to be able to produce safe,uniform,cheap,environmentally-and welfare-friendly food products and market these products in an increasingly complex international agricultural market,livestock producers must have access to timely production related information.Especially the information related to feeding/nutritional issues is important,as feeding related costs are always significant part of variables costs for all types of livestock production.Therefore,automating the collection,analysis and use of production related information on livestock farms will be essential for improving livestock productivity in the future.Electronically-controlled livestock production systems with an information and communication technology(ICT)focus are required to ensure that information is collected in a cost effective and timely manner and readily acted upon on farms.New electronic and ICT related technologies introduced on farms as part of Precision Livestock Farming(PLF)systems will facilitate livestock management methods that are more responsive to market signals.The PLF technologies encompass methods for electronically measuring the critical components of the production system that indicate the efficiency of resource use,interpreting the information captured and controlling processes to ensure optimum efficiency of both resource use and livestock productivity.These envisaged real-time monitoring and control systems could dramatically improve production efficiency of livestock enterprises.However,further research and development is required,as some of the components of PLF systems are in different stages of development.In addition,an overall strategy for the adoption and commercial exploitation of PLF systems needs to be developed in collaboration with private companies.This article outlines the potential role PLF can play in ensuring that the best possible management processes are implemented on farms to improve farm profitability,quality of products,welfare of livestock and sustainability of the farm environment,especially as it related to intensive livestock species.