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Four experiments were conducted to determine the effect of mat feeding strategy on the growth performance, removal, and mortality of pigs after weaning. In exp. 1, 1,392 weanling pigs (initially 7.0 kg; approximately 24 d of age) were randomly allotted to 1 of 2 mat feeding treatments (mat feed vs. no mat feed). Overall, mat fed pigs had a tendency for improved ADG (P = 0.065) and G:F (P = 0.060) compared to pigs not offered mat feed. Mat fed pigs had fewer removals (P = 0.013) compared to pigs not offered mat feed. In exp. 2, 2,912 weanling pigs (initially 5.5 kg; approximately 21 d of age) were randomly allotted to 1 of 2 mat feeding treatments (mat feed vs. no mat feed). Overall, no differences in growth performance were observed. However, mat fed pigs had decreased (P < 0.026) final body weights compared to pigs not offered mat feed. This may be related to removal rates as mat fed pigs had fewer removals (P = 0.026). In exp. 3, 3,264 weanling pigs (initially 5.5 kg; approximately 21 d of age) were randomly allotted to 1 of 4 treatments in a 2 × 2 factorial with main effects of diet form (pellet or crumble) and mat feeding (mat feed vs. no mat feed). No interactions between diet form and mat feeding were observed. No differences were observed in overall growth performance for the main effect of mat feeding. Pigs offered pelleted feed had decreased overall ADFI (feed disappearance from the feeder and feed placed on the mat; P = 0.013) and improved G:F (P < 0.001) compared to pigs offered crumble feed. No differences were observed in removals or mortalities for the main effect of mat feeding or diet form. In exp. 4, 3,227 weanling pigs (initially 5.1 kg; approximately 21 d of age) were randomly allotted to 1 of 3 treatments consisting of mat feeding small (3.2 mm) pellets, mat feeding large (12.7 mm) pellets, or no mat feeding. Overall, no differences were observed in ADG or G:F. Mat fed pigs had increased ADFI (P < 0.001) compared to pigs not offered mat feed. Given the shorter duration of this experiment, the extra feed provided with mat feeding had a greater impact on overall feed usage than exp. 1, 2, and 3. No differences were observed in removals or mortalities. When combining the removal and mortality data for the four experiments, mat fed pigs had fewer removals (P = 0.002) compared to pigs not offered mat feed. In summary, mat feeding may encourage earlier feeding behavior, therefore reducing the removal rate of pigs post-weaning., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Stromal cell-derived factor 1 (SDF-1) is known to influence bone marrow stromal cell (BMSC) migration, osteogenic differentiation, and fracture healing. We hypothesize that SDF-1 mediates some of its effects on BMSCs through epigenetic regulation, specifically via microRNAs (miRNAs). MiRNAs are small non-coding RNAs that target specific mRNA and prevent their translation. We performed global miRNA analysis and determined several miRNAs were differentially expressed in response to SDF-1 treatment. Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) dataset analysis showed that these miRNAs play an important role in osteogenic differentiation and fracture healing. KEGG and GO analysis indicated that SDF-1 dependent miRNAs changes affect multiple cellular pathways, including fatty acid biosynthesis, thyroid hormone signaling, and mucin-type O-glycan biosynthesis pathways. Furthermore, bioinformatics analysis showed several miRNAs target genes related to stem cell migration and differentiation. This study's findings indicated that SDF-1 induces some of its effects on BMSCs function through miRNA regulation., (© 2021 Matthew L. Potter et al., published by De Gruyter.)

Porcine circovirus associated disease (PCVAD) is a term used to describe the multi-factorial disease syndromes caused by porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV-2), which can be reproduced in an experimental setting through the co-infection of pigs with PCV-2 and porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). The resulting PCVAD-affected pigs represent a subpopulation within the co-infected group. In co-infection studies, the presence of increased microbiome diversity is linked to a reduction in clinical signs. In this study, fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) was investigated as a means to prevent PCVAD in pigs co-infected with PRRSV and PCV-2d. The sources of the FMT material were high-parity sows with a documented history of high health status and robust litter characteristics. The analysis of the donated FMT material showed the absence of common pathogens along with the presence of diverse microbial phyla and families. One group of pigs ( n = 10) was administered the FMT while a control group ( n = 10) was administered a sterile mock-transplant. Over the 42-day post-infection period, the FMT group showed fewer PCVAD-affected pigs, as evidenced by a significant reduction in morbidity and mortality in transplanted pigs, along with increased antibody levels. Overall, this study provides evidence that FMT decreases the severity of clinical signs following co-infection with PRRSV and PCV-2 by reducing the prevalence of PCVAD.