The objective of this study was to investigate an alternative feedstuff, Iowa-grown field peas, for finishing pigs. Field peas (winter, spring, and summer types) grown in southeast Iowa during 2005 and 2006 were sampled and analyzed for nutrient content. Overall, the peas were 2.8% fat, 5.7% fiber, 3% ash, 19.3% protein, 1.5% lysine, 0.73% threonine 0.18% tryptophan, and 0.20% methionine. The spring peas were generally lower in fat and higher in essential amino acid content than the summer and winter peas. Finishing pigs, barrows (n = 64) were randomly assigned to pens with four pigs each. There were four replications per treatment group. Each pen was assigned one of the four diets. The four diets were: 1) winter pea 30% of the total diet (by weight), 2) summer pea 30%, 3) spring pea 30%, and 4) corn-soybean meal as the control. The three pea diets contained corn but no soybean meal. Each of the four diets had 0.64% lysine based on calculated analysis. Crystalline amino acids were added to the pea diets. The pigs started the experiment at 80 ± 2.5 kg live weight and were fed the experimental diets for 39 days. Pigs were weighed individually at the start, at 14-d intervals, and at the end of the experiment. At final weighing, backfat and loin muscle area was ultrasonically evaluated on each pig.

There was no difference in final pig weight (123 ± 3 kg) in the four treatment groups. There were no treatment effects on average daily gain (ADG) (P = 0.22) across dietary treatments. Average daily feed intake (ADFI) was influenced by dietary treatments (P < 0.10). Pigs tended to consume less corn-soybean meal and spring pea diets than the winter and summer pea diets, with ADFI of 4.0, 3.8, 3.5, and 3.4 kg/d for winter, summer, spring, and the control diets, respectively. Feed:Gain (F:G) was not different among the treatment groups. Pigs fed winter peas had greater (P < 0.10) backfat (BF) than pigs fed spring peas or the control diet. Pigs fed summer peas were intermediate in BF and did not differ from the other treatments. There were no differences between dietary treatments for loin muscle area (LMA), although the pigs fed spring peas had numerically smaller loin muscle areas. There were no differences in the overall fat-free lean values (P > 0.10). In this study, the results showed no decrease in performance of finishing pigs at the inclusion rate of 30% field peas in a corn-based diet. The 30% field pea inclusion rate was enough to replace all the soybean meal and reduce the amount of corn in the diet. In the diets containing peas, synthetic amino acids, lysine, tryptophan, and threonine were added in the pea diets to avoid deficiencies. Because of their chemical composition, agronomic characteristic, and easy on-farm feeding, field peas are a potential crop to consider for Iowa pork production. Results from this study indicate, Iowa-grown field peas at 30% rate can replace all of the soybean meal and part of the corn in diets for finishing pigs with no negative effects on performance.

The D10-values of L. monocytogenes in breast rolls and hams were 0.52 and 0.47 kGy, respectively. For breast rolls, the log10 reductions of L. monocytogenes following irradiation at 1.0 and 2.5 kGy were 1.5 and 4.7, respectively, while 2.0 and 5.5 for hams. The log10 reductions of APC in breast rolls following 1.0 and 2.0-kGy irradiation were 2.9 and 5.2 while that of hams was < 10 CFU/cm2 after 1.0- and 2.0-kGy irradiation. In 2.0 kGy-irradiated hams, L. Monocytogenes grew to 4.82 log10 CFU/cm2 after 28 d storage at 4 °C, while APC increased to 2.98 log10 CFU/cm2, respectively. In breast rolls after 14 d storage, APC in 1.0 kGy-irradiated samples increased to 7.53 log10 CFU/cm2; and APC increased to 2.63 and 4.68 log10 CFU/cm2 for 2.0 kGy-irradiated breast rolls after 14 and 28 d storage. However, during the storage of breast rolls, L. monocytogenes grew slowly or even stopped to grow in both non-irradiated and irradiated breast rolls due to the competitive inhibition of natural flora in breast rolls.

Irradiation greatly reduced L. monocytogenes and APC in turkey hams and breast rolls. However, at least 2.5 kGy irradiation is needed to achieve a 5-log reduction of L. monocytogenes in turkey hams and breast rolls. Some cells survived irradiation and grew during storage after lag phase. To control L. monocytogenes contamination in RTE turkey hams and breast rolls during storage, additional barriers, such as adding preservatives, are necessary in order to ensure the microbial safety of products following low-dose irradiation.

Four complete feedlot rations between 41 & 48 Mcal/cwt Net Energy Gain (NEg) containing corn coproducts were analyzed to determine total percent sulfur on a dry matter basis (DMB). Ration sulfur level averaged 0.37% and ranged from 0.28-0.50%. Water sulfur content averaged 134 ppm and ranged from 98-205 ppm. The College of Veterinary Medicine spreadsheet to determine total sulfur intake calculated that the 650 pound steer consuming 20 pounds of a 44 Mcal/cwt NEg ration with 0.37% sulfur and water with 134 ppm sulfur was consuming 0.46% total sulfur intake. Twenty percent of the total sulfur comes from the water. Nine complete feedlot rations containing corn co-products were analyzed between 50 & 58 Mcal/cwt NEg to determine total percent sulfur on a DMB. Ration sulfur averaged 0.33% and ranged from 0.21-0.46%. Water sulfur content averaged 32 ppm and ranged from 5-83 ppm. The College of Veterinary Medicine spreadsheet to determine total sulfur intake calculated that the 800 pound steer consuming 24 pounds of a 55 Mcal/cwt NEg ration with 0.33% sulfur and 32 ppm sulfur water was consuming 0.35% total sulfur intake.

Detailed information on the pigs’ temporal drinking patterns is essential when delivering water based health products because there is a risk that not all pigs will visit the drinker adequately and hence, may not receive sufficient vaccine or medication required to protect the animal. The objectives of this study were to determine the percentage of pigs that drank within a 6 hour time period and the number and length of drinking visits on an hourly basis for seven week old pigs when water was either withheld or not withheld for 15 hours over two consecutive days.

All pigs in the pens took at least one 5 second or longer visit to the drinker over both days (Table 1). Number of drinking visits to the nipple cup drinker per hour differed (P = 0.0001) for the first hour (0700) after water was made available between WH and CONT treatments respectively (Table 2). For all other hours there were no (P > 0.05) differences. Total length of time spent at the nipple cup drinker differed (P = 0.0001) at 0700 with WH spending longer than their CONT counterparts. For all other time periods there were no (P > 0.05) differences (Table 3). In conclusion, withholding water over the 15 hour period to make sure all pigs receive sufficient vaccine is not needed.

Chicken macrophages, when treated with inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) short interfering RNA (siRNA) and then stimulated with recombinant chicken IFN-γ, produced significantly less nitric oxide (NO) and had lower iNOS mRNA levels compared to IFN-γ stimulated HD-11 cells not treated with siRNA.

As gene knock-outs are not readily available for most agricultural species, such as the chicken, siRNA technology to reduce gene expression could prove to be a powerful tool in advancing basic knowledge of avian immune function and immune response to infection. Our novel demonstration of siRNA-mediated knock-down of iNOS mRNA expression and NO production in HD-11 macrophages establishes the validity and feasibility of using RNAi technology in the avian immune system, thus providing a foundation for future investigations in avian immune function and the chicken immune response to bacterial pathogens of economic importance such as Salmonella enteritidis.