Changes in cortisol and cortisone in hair of pigs reared under heat stress conditions
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Author
Escribano, Damián
López-Arjona, Marina
Joaquín Cerón, José
Aymerich, Pau
Publication date
2023-07-18ISSN
2297-1769
Abstract
Heat stress accounts for millions of dollars in losses for swine producers
worldwide. The aim of the present study was to determine and evaluate cortisol
and cortisone in hair as indicators of thermal stress in growing pigs reared under
high environmental temperatures. The study was carried out in two independent
batches of commercial crosses of Lean Duroc and Pietrain in trials 1 and 2,
respectively, during the growing period (from 40 to 100 kg; 81 days in trial 1 and
77 days in trial 2) in the same commercial farm in Spain during the summers
of 2020 and 2021. In both cases, four rooms were used. In Trial 1, Room 1 had
cooling and 11 pigs per pen; Room 2 had no cooling and 13 pigs per pen; Room
3 had no cooling and 11 pigs per pen, and Room 4 had cooling and 13 pigs per
pen. In Trial 2, Rooms 2 and 3 had cooling and rooms 1 and 4 had no cooling, and
all of them had 13 pigs per pen. Mean THI value was higher (p < 0.0001) in rooms
without cooling systems (75.0 trial 1; 74.9 trial 2) than with them (71.3 trial 1; 71.7
trial 2). A total of four pens per room (16 in total) was selected for analysis of hair
corticoids and all pigs inside were sampled at the end of the study. Fifty percent
of the pigs were males (castrated and intact in trial 1 and 2, respectively) and 50%
females. In total, 44, 52, 44, and 52 pigs, respectively, were sampled in four rooms
from the first trial and 52 for each of four rooms in Trial 2. Cortisol concentrations
in hair did not show any significant change in relation to cooling-non-cooling in
any trial. However, hair cortisone concentration was 172.3 pg./mg and 105.8 pg./
mg less (p < 0.001) in pigs housed with cooling systems compared to those without
them in Trial 1 and 2, respectively. In addition, the cortisone/cortisol ratio, which is
an estimator of the activity of 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (11β-HSD) type
2, was also greater in rooms without cooling than in rooms with cooling in both
trials (p < 0.0001 and p = 0.0105 for Trials 1 and 2, respectively). In relation to the sex
effect, the results showed greater levels in females than in castrated males both
in cortisone and the cortisol/cortisone ratio while cortisol hair levels were greater
in intact males than in females. Therefore, the use of cortisone and the estimation
of 11β-HSD type 2 activity in hair is recommended to evaluate the chronic stress
produced by high environmental conditions in pigs instead of using hair cortisol
concentrations alone.
Document Type
Article
Document version
Published version
Language
English
Subject (CDU)
636 - Animal husbandry and breeding in general. Livestock rearing. Breeding of domestic animals
Pages
9
Publisher
Frontiers Media
Is part of
Frontiers in Veterinary Science
Citation
Escribano, Damián, Alexandra Contreras-Jodar, Marina López-Arjona, José J Cerón, E. Fàbrega, Pau Aymerich, and Antoni Dalmau. 2023. “Changes in Cortisol and Cortisone in Hair of Pigs Reared under Heat Stress Conditions.” Frontiers in Veterinary Science 10 (July). https://doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1156480.
Grant agreement number
CDTI/ /IDI-20210216/ES/ESTRATEGIAS PARA UN NIVEL SUPERIOR DE BIENESTAR EN LA PRODUCCIÓN PORCINA (1/2)/
FEDER/ / /EU/ /
MICINN/Programa Estatal de promoción del talento y su empleabilidad en I+D+I/FJC2021-047105-I/ES/ /
Program
Benestar Animal
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- ARTICLES CIENTÍFICS [2555]
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