Acta Veterinaria Tomus XXII, Fasciculus 4. [antikvár]

THE GUT BACTERIAL FLÓRA OF HEALTHY EARLY WEANED PIGLETS, WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO FACTORS INFLUENCING ITS COMPOSITIONByF. Kovács, B. Nagy and G. SinkovicsInstitute of Animál Hygiene (Head: Prof. F. Kovács), University of Veterinary Science, Budapest(Received November 18, 1971)Many studies have been made of the modifications in the intestinal flóra of young pigs brought about by certain factors, and above all by early weaning, a practice that is now becoming widely adopted (e.g. Soyka, Lloyd and Sweeney, 1960; Smith, 1961, 1965; Tadd and Hurst, 1961; Pesti, 1962a,b; Kenworthy and Crabb, 1963).Similar examinations have been conducted in this institute, though we have chosen to pursue the alterations of the gut flóra in early-weaned, clinic-ally healthy, rather than in diseased animals, in order to fill the gaps in our knowledge about their relation to weaning at different ages.Material and methodsThe litters farrowed by five Large White sows from a breeder herd were observed until the piglets reached 54 days of age. A totál of 36 of the piglets were killed for complete bacteriological assay of the intestinal tract. Three of the five sows (AC) were removed for farrowing to the climatic chambers of the institute, in which an optimál room temperature of 1618 °C and a relative humidity of 7080% were provided. In the creep, the temperature was raised to 2632 °C and air flow maintained at 0.10.2 m/sec until weaning. After weaning, the infrared lamps were no longer used, and the animals were kept at a room temperature of 2426 °C, with a relative humidity of 6075%. Air quality was satisfactory throughout the experimentál period.The offspring of the remaining two sows (D, E), a totál of 18 piglets, were farrowed and reared on the farm, at a farrowing pen temperature of 10 15 °C, a relative humidity of 8590% and exposed to a higher air flow than was permitted in the climatic chambers, viz. under essentially poorer environ-mental conditions than the first three groups.Piglets of litters A, B and C were weaned at the ages of 14, 21 and 28 days, respectively, the farm-reared piglets at 21 and 28 days. Animals of