Healthier pigs without antibiotics

With global attention focused on antimicrobial use and resistance, Australia’s pork industry research centre is directing efforts into better understanding the incidence, virulence and resistance of common pathogens and developing appropriate diagnostic tests.

The CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for High Integrity Australian Pork (Pork CRC) Roger Campbell believes that such work offers the opportunity for Australian pork producers to differentiate themselves in the global market.

The research centre’s most recent success has come with the development of a quantitative PCR (qPCR) test for Lawsonia bacteria, which tells if the animal is infected with Lawsonia, the number of Lawsonia present and, as such, the likelihood of chronic or impending acute disease. It is hoped that routine use of this test in pens with scouring pigs will enable producers to reduce the use of antibiotics to control scouring.

“Herd-based diagnostic tools that measure disease severity or pathogen load in real time provide pork producers with the ability to treat or prevent disease outbreaks before pigs are compromised,” said Dr Alison Collins, Pork CRC project leader and senior research scientist with NSW Department of Primary Industries.

Pork CRC has supported researchers from the NSW DPI to develop diagnostic tools to measure viral and bacterial pathogen loads and disease responses in oral fluid samples from pens of pigs, providing producers with an easy, cost-effective tool to routinely monitor herd health and predict disease problems.

Meanwhile, University of Melbourne’s Dr Mark Marenda has developed air sampling techniques, combined with quantitative detection of respiratory pathogens in the pig’s environment. Such real-time monitoring of air quality will allow producers to identify periods where extra ventilation or disinfection of the environment is necessary to avoid disease outbreaks.