November 18, 2011

Bulgarian study: PCV2 vaccine affects reproductive performance

A Bulgarian study has shown that vaccinating sows using a PCV2 vaccine resulted in better reproductive performances.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effect of the vaccination of Circovac (manufactured and marketed by Merial Animal Health, France) on reproduction performance. This vaccine is the only PCV2 vaccine on the market that is authorised for use in sows. In many countries, use in piglets has also been authorised.

The study was conducted in a 2,700-sow farrow-to finish, DanBred registered herd in Bulgaria, with farrowing batches every four days, and strict all-in and all-out pig flows.

Before the observation period, piglets used to be vaccinated once intramuscularly with 0.5militres of vaccine at 28 to 30 days of age.

In August 2009, a mass sow vaccination was carried out twice, three weeks apart, followed by routine booster two weeks prior to farrowing.

This resulted in a major increase in total and live born per litter (1.7 and 1.6), which means for an average of 2.5 reproductive cycle in the farm, there were 4.25 and 4 live born piglets and sow a year.

In this study, mortality in farrowing pens was artificially increased by the elimination of underweight offspring below 840grams, subsequent to the improvement of the total and live-born piglets.

The final results corroborated, except for one parameter, the results described in many countries that consistently showed improvement in reproduction parameters after sow vaccination.

The research was carried out by Hristov Stoykov, DVM; Milena Groseva, SAM BS, Bulgaria; Sophie Longo, BPC, France and Marion Pasini, Francois Joisel and Stéphane Imbert, Merial, France. The data was first published at this year's Asian Pig Veterinary Society Congress in Pattaya, Thailand.