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Microbiology of Pigs and their Environment in Relation to Weaning
Author(s) -
Hill I. R.,
Kenworthy R.
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
journal of applied bacteriology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 0021-8847
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.1970.tb02201.x
Subject(s) - weaning , feces , biology , serotype , microbiology and biotechnology , zoology , veterinary medicine , salmonella , bacteria , food science , medicine , genetics
Summary. On weaning, pigs were placed in a house of a type which is commonly used for early weaning or individually in cages in a controlled environment room. Micro‐organisms (11,631 isolates) recovered from air, food, faeces, water and pigs' skins were characterized and identified at the genus level. Pigs in the controlled environment harboured populations of lactobacilli and haemolytic serotypes of Escherichia coli greater than those of their littermates housed in a conventional piggery early‐weaning house. This was ascribed to the heavy faecal contamination of food in the troughs of the caged pigs, since the air in the controlled environment contained fewer micro‐organisms than that in the conventional piggery. The association of high numbers of faecal lactobacilli and haemolytic E. coli , and confinement in a controlled environment were not associated with the same amount of clinical disease and growth depression as was the combination of smaller numbers of the same organisms and conventional housing.