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Genomic Analysis Of Sow Reproductive Traits: Identification Of Selective Sweeps, Major Genes, And Genotype By Diet Interactions, Melanie D. Trenhaile

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Reproductive traits, such as litter size and reproductive longevity, are economically important. However, selection for these traits is difficult due to low heritability, polygenic nature, sex-limited expression, and expression late in life. Marker-assisted selection may provide an alternative to increase genetic progress.

Nebraska Index Line (NIL) has been selected for litter size related traits since 1981. It is one of the main contributing lines to the UNL reproductive longevity resource population (n > 1,500), which was genotyped for 60,000 SNPs, phenotyped for age at puberty (AP), lifetime number of parities (LTNP), litter size traits, and other reproductive traits, and fed either …

Evaluation Of Reduced Subsets Of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms For The Prediction Of Age At Puberty In Sows, Katherine L. Lucot, Matthew L. Spangler, Melanie D. Trenhaile, Stephen D. Kachman, Daniel C. Ciobanu

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Genomic information could be used efficiently to improve traits that are expensive to measure, sex limited or expressed late in life. This study analyzed the phenotypic variation explained by major SNPs and windows for age at puberty in gilts, an indicator of reproductive longevity. A genome-wide association study using 56,424 SNPs explained 25.2% of the phenotypic variation in age at puberty in a training set (n = 820). All SNPs from the top 10% of 1-Mb windows explained 33.5% of the phenotypic variance compared to 47.1% explained by the most informative markers (n = 261). In an evaluation population, consisting …

4-H 357 Guide For Evaluating Livestock Showmanship Contests : Beef, Sheep, Swine, Doyle R. Wolverton

Nebraska 4-H Clubs: Historical Materials and Publications

Nebraska Cooperative Extension 4-H 357: Guide for Evaluating Livestock Showmanship Contests. This guide provides an outline of various desirable showmanship practices and the relative importance of each.

Issues Encountered In Development Of Enzymelinked Immunosorbent Assay For Use In Detecting Influenza A Virus Subtype H5n1 Exposure In Swine, Jason Buehler, Kelly Lager, Amy Vincent, Cathy Miller, Eileen Thacker, Bruce Janke

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

A potential mechanism by which highly pathogenic avian Influenza A virus subtype H5N1 could more readily infect human beings is through the infection of and adaptation in pigs. To detect the occurrence of such infection, monitoring of pig populations through serological screening would be highly desirable. In the current study, hemagglutination inhibition assays were able to detect antibodies against H5N1 developed in pigs, but because of antigenic variation between clades, the use of multiple virus strains were required. Whole recombinant virus and recombinant hemagglutinin antigen enzymelinked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) were generated that could detect antibody against multiple H5N1 strains, but …

Genome-Wide Analysis Of Tnf-Alpha Response In Pigs Challenged With Porcine Circovirus 2b, C. A. Kreikemeier, T. B., K. L. Lucot, Thomas E. Burkey, Daniel C. Ciobanu

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine with a role in activating adaptive immunity to viral infections. By inhibiting the capacity of plasmacytoid dendritic cells to produce interferon-α and TNF-α, porcine circovirus 2 (PCV₂) limits the maturation of myeloid dendritic cells and impairs their ability to recognize viral and bacterial antigens. Previously, we reported QTL for viremia and immune response in PCV₂- infected pigs. In this study, we analyzed phenotypic and genetic relationships between TNFα protein levels, a potential indicator of predisposition to PCV₂ co-infection, and PCV₂ susceptibility. Following experimental challenge with …

Effect Of Turning Frequency And Season On Composting Materials From Swine High-Rise Facilities, K L. Cook, E L. Ritchey, J H. Loughrin, M Haley, K R. Sistani, C H. Bolster

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Composting swine slurries has several advantages, liquid slurries are converted to solids at lower moisture, the total volume and weight of material is reduced and the stabilized product is more easily transported off-site. Despite this, swine waste is generally stored, treated and applied in its liquid form. High-rise finishing facilities (HRFF) permit liquid slurries to be converted to solids which are partially decomposed underneath the HRFF and then finished in compost windrows. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of turning frequency and ambient weather conditions on biological, physical and chemical properties of composted slurry-woodchip mixtures from …

Effect Of Lysozyme Or Antibiotics On Faecal Zoonotic Pathogens In Nursery Pigs, J E. Wells, E. D. Berry, N Kalchayanand, L A. Rampel, M Kim, W. T. Oliver

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Aims: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of lysozyme and antibiotics on zoonotic pathogen shedding in faeces from nursery pigs housed without and with an indirect disease challenge. Methods and Results: Two replicates of approximately 650 pigs each were weaned and randomly assigned to one of 24 pens in either a nursery room that had been fully disinfected or a nursery room left unclean. Pigs were randomly assigned to control diet (Control), control diet + antibiotics (Antibiotic; chlortetracycline and tiamulin), or control diet + lysozyme (Lysozyme; 100 mg kg ^-1 diet). Rectal swab samples were collected …

Characterization Of Co-Circulating Swine Influenza A Viruses In North America And The Identification Of A Novel H1 Genetic Clade With Antigenic Significance, Tavis K. Anderson, Brian A. Campbell, Martha I. Nelson, Nicola S. Lewis, Alicia Janas Martindale, Mary Lea Killian, Amy L. Vincent

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Multiple genetically and antigenically distinct hemagglutinin genes of the H1 and H3 influenza A virus (IAV) subtypes co-circulate in North American swine. This diversity has evolved by repeated transmission of IAVs from humans to swine and subsequent antigenic drift in swine. To understand the evolutionary dynamics of these diverse HA lineages in North American swine, we undertook a phylogenetic analysis of 1576 H1 and 607 H3 HA gene segments, as well as 834 N1 and 1293 N2 NA gene segments, and 2126 M gene segments. These data revealed yearly co-circulation of H1N1, H1N2, and H3N2 viruses, with three HA clades …

Salmonella Enterica Serovar Typhimurium-Infected Pigs With Different Shedding Levels Exhibit Distinct Clinical, Peripheral Cytokine And Transcriptomic Immune Response Phenotypes, Susan M. Knetter, Shawn M. D. Bearson, Ting-Hua Huang, Dason Kurkiewicz, Martine Schroyen, Dan Nettleton, Daniel Berman, Valerie Cohen, Joan K. Lunney, Amanda E. Ramer-Tait, Michael J. Wannemuehler, Christopher K. Tuggle

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Foodborne salmonellosis costs the US $2.7 billion/year, including $100.0 million in annual losses to pork producers. Pigs colonized with Salmonella are usually asymptomatic with varied severity and duration of fecal shedding. Thus, understanding the responses that result in less shedding may provide a mechanism for control. Fifty-four pigs were inoculated with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) and clinical signs, fecal ST shedding, growth performance, peripheral cytokines and whole blood gene expression were measured. Persistently shedding (PS) pigs had longer pyrexia and elevated serum IL-1b, TNF-a and IFN-g compared with low shedding (LS) pigs, while LS pigs had brief pyrexia, less …