The effect of vaccination against Salmonella and Lawsonia on the zootechnical performance of grower and finishing pigs.
Proliferative enteropathy; Enteropathogenic Salmonellosis; vaccination; swine.
Sanitary events are responsible for major economic impacts on pig farming, amongst which proliferative enteropathy and Salmonellosis, are caused by Lawsonia intracellular and enteropathogenic Salmonella serovars, respectively. Among disease control tools, vaccination has contributed substantially to the reduction of the negative effect of pathogens in the different stages of the growing process. In this sense, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of vaccination against Salmonella and Lawsonia on the zootechnical performance of pigs in the growing and finishing stages. For that, 2,500 pigs were distributed in five treatments (n=500 animals/treatment subdivided into 50 stalls), and the stall was the experimental unit. At weaning, the pigs were identified, weighed, and on arrival at the farrowing pen, they were distributed in the following treatments: T1 oral vaccine for Lawsonia intracellularis, T2 injectable vaccine for Lawsonia intracellularis and Salmonella Typhimurium, T3 injectable vaccine for Lawsonia intracellularis, T4 injectable vaccine for Salmonella Typhimurium and T5 without the vaccine, constituting the control group. The second weighing was carried out in the transfer from the farrowing pen to the finishing and the third in the pre-slaughter. During the experiment, the occurrence of clinical events, drug intervention, mortality, animal disqualification, and the presence of diarrhea in the stalls were recorded. Comparing the treatments, there was no statistical difference (P>0.05) for daily weight gain, mortality/disqualification of animals, and drug interventions. The incidence of diarrhea in the pens and the prevalence of pens with diarrhea were also not affected by the treatments. In the studied condition, the treatments affected the variables of interest analyzed. The incidence of diarrhea in the stalls and the prevalence of stalls with diarrhea were also not affected by the treatments. In the studied condition, the treatments affected the variables of interest.