METHOD FOR REDUCTION OF BEHAVIORAL DISORDERS IN PIGS

Abstract

The present invention relates to the use of guanidinoacetic acid and a method of treating caudophagia in pigs.

Claims

1. (canceled)

2. A non-therapeutic method for treating caudophagia in pigs, wherein guanidinoacetic acid is administered to the pigs as a non-therapeutic agent for reducing aggressiveness.

3. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the non-therapeutic agent is administered during breeding or fattening.

4. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the non-therapeutic agent is administered from the 60th day of life of the pigs.

5. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the non-therapeutic agent is administered during breeding or fattening of the pigs, wherein the pigs are provided with space in the range of 0.75 to 2.25 m.sup.2/animal.

6. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the non-therapeutic agent is administered together with a feed for the pigs.

7. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the feed is selected from the group consisting of wheat, barley, triticale, soybean extraction meal, rapeseed extraction meal and grain maize.

8. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the feed has a metabolic energy in the range of 10 to 16 MJ/kg feed.

9. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the guanidinoacetic acid is administered in a dose of 4 to 500 mg per day per kg of animal.

10. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the guanidinoacetic acid is administered in an amount of from 0.02 to 1 wt. % based on the feed.

11. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the guanidinoacetic acid is added to the feed in the form of a granulate, extrudate or solution.

12. Use or method according to claim 2, wherein the guanidinoacetic acid is applied to a carrier material.

Description

FIGURE DESCRIPTION

[0044] FIG. 1: Drawing of the occupancy of sections 1 and 4

[0045] FIG. 2: Drawing of the occupancy of sections 2 and 5

[0046] FIG. 3: Drawing of the occupancy of sections 3 and 6

[0047] The distance between the boxes with 14.4 m.sup.2 and the boxes with 24 m.sup.2, which was created by moving the railings, is not shown.

EXAMPLES

[0048] a) Experiment Description:

[0049] A total of 1440 pigs (fattening animals of the Piétrain×Danbred breed) were used.

[0050] b) Feeding:

[0051] From the 10th day of life until the 27th day of life, the feed was supplemented with Bonimal SB LiquidStart in the form of liquid feed in WEDA Nutrix systems. Ingredients according to the manufacturer: energy (ME) 15.6 MJ, raw protein 21.00%, lysine 1.36%, raw fiber 0.90%, calcium 0.40%, phosphorus 0.60%, additives vitamin A 25,000 I.U., vitamin D3 5,000 I.U., vitamin E 150 mg.

[0052] Directly thereafter from the 28th day of life until the 41st day of life it was fed with Bonimal SB Safe spreader 140. Ingredients according to the manufacturer: energy (ME) 14.3 MJ, raw protein 17.50%, lysine 1.14%, raw fiber 3.70%, calcium 0.50%, phosphorus 0.57%, additives vitamin A 16,000 I.U., vitamin D3 2,000 I.U., vitamin E 75 mg.

[0053] From the 42nd day of life until the 60th day of life it was fed with Bonimal SK Piglet 138. Ingredients according to the manufacturer: energy (ME) 13.8 MJ, raw protein 17.00%, lysine 1.25%, raw fiber 4.00%, calcium 0.70%, phosphorus 0.53%, additives vitamin A 15,000 I.U., vitamin D3 2,000 I.U., vitamin E 100 mg.

[0054] From the 61st day of life until the 90th day of life it was fed with Bonimal SK Piglet 134. Ingredients according to the manufacturer: energy (ME) 13.4 MJ, raw protein 17.00%, lysine 1.20%, raw fiber 3.50%, calcium 0.70%, phosphorus 0.50%, additives vitamin A 15,000 I.U., vitamin D3 2,000 I.U., vitamin E 100 mg.

[0055] From the 91st day of life, the experiment started with different dosage of different amounts of guanidinoacetic acid in the feed.

[0056] c) Keeping of the Animals:

[0057] After a suckling period of 28 days, two-phase piglet breeding was performed until the 60th day of life in a flat deck (0.50 m.sup.2 per piglet) in pens of 24 piglets.

[0058] The farrowing pens had a size of 5 m.sup.2. 1 m.sup.2 thereof was heatable with slabs for piglets and 4 m.sup.2 with concrete slatted floors with 11 mm slat width and 50 mm tread width. The supplementary feed was provided laterally on two walls in a WEDA Nutrix system.

[0059] After 28 days of life, the piglets were transferred to the flat deck with a slat width of 14 mm. The size of each flat deck was 3 m×4 m. Feed with simultaneous access to water was offered in mash feeders. The width of the feeding area was 18 cm. There were 2 bite woods for piglets in each flat deck. Straw was accessible to piglets through a straw basket.

[0060] After 60 days of life, 1152 animals were selected for the continuation of the experiment: Here, conspicuously weak animals and animals with easily recognizable injuries to the tail or other body parts were not used.

[0061] In the subsequent fattening period, the pigs were kept in 72 pens of 16 animals each on concrete slats without bedding. A drawing of the experimental setup is shown with FIGS. 1 to 3. The slat width was 18 mm with a tread width of 80 mm. Feed was provided ad libitum by means of type RM 05 mash feeders from IBO Stalltechnik GmbH. The feed was supplied via floury feed.

[0062] The feeding place width per animal was 33 cm. The following materials were available in all pens: 2 hanging natural bite woods for sows, 2 nibbling balls 5.5 cm in diameter. Straw was accessible through a straw basket. Schurr pig brushes were mounted on two walls.

[0063] For each experimental parameter, 6 pens of mixed-sex were housed. For an even distribution, the animals were first divided into 4 main groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 of 288 animals each. Then, from each main group, animals were divided into 3 subgroups A, B and C (SG A, SG B, SG C) of 96 animals each, and from each subgroup, animals were separated into 6 pens. Thus, there were 12 experimental parameters with 6 replications each and 16 animals per replication, corresponding to 1152 animals.

[0064] The 72 pens were divided into 6 sections in a stable. All 4 main groups were represented in each section, with a pen size assigned to each main group (see Table 1). The pen sizes of main groups 3 and 4 were realized by removing railings from the standard pen of 12 m.sup.2. To realize the pen size of main group 2, a part of a 24 m.sup.2 pen was reduced by a railing. The animals of main groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 were kept without further rehousing with the pen sizes listed in Table 1 until 30 weeks of age.

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 Pen size and available space per animal Main group Pen size Available space per animal 1   12 m.sup.2 0.75 m.sup.2/animal 2 14.4 m.sup.2  0.9 m.sup.2/animal 3   24 m.sup.2  1.5 m.sup.2/animal 4   36 m.sup.2 2.25 m.sup.2/animal

[0065] The available space per animal was chosen based on the National Animal Welfare Label for pigs in Germany. For animals between 50 and 110 kg, the following regulations apply: Minimum standard: 0.75 m.sup.2/animal; level 1: 0.9 m.sup.2/animal; level 2: 1.1 m.sup.2/animal; level 3: 1.5 m.sup.2/animal (of which 0.5 m.sup.2 is outdoor space).

[0066] Accordingly, main group 1 corresponds to the statutory German minimum standard, main group 2 corresponds to level 1 of the National Animal Welfare Label in terms of space requirements, and main group 3 corresponds to level 3 of the National Animal Welfare Label in terms of space requirements but in confinement without outdoor space. The animals in main group 4 were offered significantly more space than the highest level of the National Animal Welfare Label so far.

[0067] Feeding from 91 days of life was performed in 2 phases, which were identical across all 4 main groups.

[0068] Phase I: from the 91st day of life until the 120th day of life

[0069] Phase II: from the 121st day of life

[0070] For subgroups B and C, guanidinoacetic acid was added to the feed in amounts of 0.04 wt. % and 0.12 wt. %, respectively, relative to the solid feed.

[0071] The mixing was carried out in a HIMEL compact mixer FM with a capacity of 560 kg, in which the feed was introduced and guanidinoacetic acid was added as a powder and mixed for 15 min at the highest performance level.

[0072] The calculated contents of energy, raw protein and amino acids per kg of the feed used (880 g TM (dry weight)) are shown in Table 2.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 Calculated contents and metabolic energy of the feed Phase I Phase II > 91st-120th 120th day day of life of life Energy conversion (ME) MJ 13.2 13.0 Raw protein g 155 140 Lysine g 9.1 7.6 Methionine + Cystine g 5.9 5.4 Threonine g 6.2 5.5 Thryptophan g 1.9 1.7 Isoleucine g 5.2 4.8 Valine g 6.4 6.0

[0073] Each stable section is crossed by three pipe chain conveyors, which can fill each automatic feeder. By opening or closing the sliders accordingly, it is possible to preset via which pipe chain a feeder is filled. In this way, up to three different feeds can be fed in one section.

[0074] Table 3 shows the experimental regime (see also FIGS. 1 to 3).

TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Experimental regime No 0.04 wt. % 0.12 wt. % Main Available space GAA GAA GAA group [m.sup.2/animal] SG A SG B SG C 1 0.75 A1 B1 C1 2 0.9  A2 B2 C2 3 1.5  A3 B3 C3 4 2.25 A4 B4 C4

[0075] Scoring was performed when the stand was replaced using the classification shown in Table 4.

TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Score 1 Without abnormalities 2 Dry bite marks, not bleeding 3 Bloody bite marks, moderate inflammation 4 (Partial) loss, high-grade inflammation, large bleeding wounds

[0076] A maximum of 2 failures occurred per experimental regime during the fattening phase. Here, the score was evaluated at the time of the failure.

Results

[0077] Essential for an evaluation of the stand is the ratio of uninjured or only slightly injured animals to moderately and severely injured animals. Since dry, non-bloody bite marks result from a playful non-aggressive act, animals with score 2 were added to the non-injured animals. Harmful to animal welfare is considered to occur at score 3 and above, i.e., bloody bite marks, resulting from aggressive acts that are no longer playful. Therefore, for an evaluation, the numbers for scores 3 and 4 were added and the percentage of these animals relative to the total number of the respective experimental group was evaluated.

TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Overall result: Number of animals with the corresponding scores for the respective test parameters Score Total score Experiment 1 2 3 4 3 + 4 A1 39 42 12 3 15 A2 41 41 11 3 14 A3 43 42  9 2 11 A4 46 43  6 1  7 B1 41 41 10 4 14 B2 50 36  8 2 10 B3 54 36  5 1  6 B4 55 35  6 0  6 C1 40 43 10 3 13 C2 52 36  6 2  8 C3 56 35  4 1  5 C4 55 35  5 1  6

A) Consideration of the Influence of the Available Space Per Animal

[0078] In each case, 288 animals were kept at the respective spaces, namely 0.75 m.sup.2/animal, 0.9 m.sup.2/animal, 1.5 m.sup.2/animal and 2.25 m.sup.2/animal. Here, all animals were included in the evaluation regardless of whether they were given no guanidinoacetic acid or 0.04 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid or 0.12 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid in the feed.

TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Result available space Available Number of Injured space animals animals [m.sup.2/animal] Experiments score 3 or 4 [%] 0.75 A1 + B1 + C1 42 14.6 0.9  A2 + B2 + C2 33 11.1 1.5  A3 + B3 + C3 22  7.6 2.25 A4 + B4 + C4 19  6.6

[0079] As can be seen from Table 6 above, as the amount of space increases, the number and percentage of injured animals decreases. Without being bound by theory, it can be assumed that when there is too little freedom of movement per animal, their aggression is encouraged, resulting in the tail biting effect. Furthermore, a large spatial proximity creates significantly more opportunities for animal-animal interactions.

B) Consideration of the Influence of Supplementation with Guanidinoacetic Acid without Taking into Account the Available Space Per Animal:

[0080] In each case 384 animals were kept at the different supplementation rates with guanidinoacetic acid, namely without supplementation, at 0.04 wt. % supplementation and at 0.12 wt. % supplementation. Here, all animals were included in the evaluation, regardless of the space available per animal in each case.

TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 Result supplementation guanidinoacetic acid GAA Number of Injured in feed animals animals [wt. %] Experiments score 3 or 4 [%] 0    A1 + A2 + A3 + A4 47 12.2 0.04 B1 + B2 + B3 + B4 36  9.4 0.12 C1 + C2 + C3 + C4 32  8.3

[0081] As shown in Table 7 above, the number and percentage of injured animals decreases with guanidinoacetic acid supplementation. Even at a low level of supplementation, namely with 0.04 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid, a significant reduction occurs from 12.2% injured animals without supplementation to 9.4% injured animals when supplemented with 0.04 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid. When the supplemented amount of guanidinoacetic acid is increased from 0.04 wt. % to 0.12 wt. %, the percentage of injured animals is further reduced from 9.4% to 8.3%.

C) Consideration of the Influence of Supplementation with Guanidinoacetic Acid Considering the Available Space Per Animal:

[0082] In each case, 96 animals were kept at different supplementation rates with guanidinoacetic acid, namely without supplementation, at 0.04 wt. % supplementation, and at 0.12 wt. % supplementation, and at different amounts of space per animal, namely 0.75 m.sup.2/animal, 0.9 m.sup.2/animal, 1.5 m.sup.2/animal, and 2.25 m.sup.2/animal.

TABLE-US-00008 TABLE 8 Overall assessment of guanidinoacetic acid supplementation GAA Available Injured in feed space animals [wt. %] [m.sup.2/animal] Experiment [%] 0    0.75 A1 15.6 0.04 0.75 B1 14.6 0.12 0.75 C1 13.5 0    0.9  A2 14.6 0.04 0.9  B2 10.4 0.12 0.9  C2  8.3 0    1.5  A3 11.5 0.04 1.5  B3  6.3 0.12 1.5  C3  5.2 0    2.25 A4  7.3 0.04 2.25 B4  6.3 0.12 2.25 C4  6.3

[0083] In the experiments where only 0.75 m.sup.2/animal was available to the animals, namely A1, B1, and C1, supplementation with guanidinoacetic acid only slightly decreased the percentage of injured animals, from 15.6% (without supplementation) to 14.6% (supplementation with 0.04 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid) and to 13.5% (supplementation with 0.12 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid).

[0084] In the experiments where 0.9 m.sup.2/animal was available to the animals, namely A2, B2 and C2, supplementation with guanidinoacetic acid significantly reduced the percentage of injured animals, from 14.6% (without supplementation) to 10.4% (supplementation with 0.04 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid) and to 8.3% (supplementation with 0.12 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid). This almost halved the number of injured animals. The effect was particularly large between the experiments without the addition of guanidinoacetic acid with 14.6% injured animals and supplementation with 0.04 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid with 10.4% injured animals.

[0085] In the experiments where 1.5 m.sup.2/animal was available to the animals, namely A3, B3 and C3, supplementation with guanidinoacetic acid reduced the percentage of injured animals only slightly, from 11.5% (without supplementation) to 6.3% (supplementation with 0.04 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid) and to 5.2% (supplementation with 0.12 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid). The number of injured animals was more than halved in this series of experiments. Again, the greatest decrease was observed between the experiments without the addition of guanidinoacetic acid with 11.5% injured animals and supplementation with 0.04 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid with 6.3% injured animals.

[0086] In the experiments where 2.25 m.sup.2/animal was available to the animals, namely A4, B4 and C4, supplementation with guanidinoacetic acid reduced the percentage of injured animals only slightly, from 7.3% (without supplementation) to 6.3% (supplementation with 0.04 wt. % and 0.12 wt. % guanidinoacetic acid, respectively). On the one hand, the effect of supplementation was only slight, and on the other hand, the increase in the supplemented amount of guanidinoacetic acid from 0.04 wt. % to 0.12 wt. % did not result in any reduction in the number of injured animals.

[0087] In summary, it is concluded that the addition of guanidinoacetic acid to pig feed decreases the number of animals injured at the tail. This effect is particularly evident in those animals that had an available space of 0.9 m.sup.2/animal and 1.5 m.sup.2/animal, respectively. However, the positive influence of guanidinoacetic acid supplementation on the number of tail-injured animals is also evident in the case of an available space of 0.75 m.sup.2/animal and 2.25 m.sup.2/animal.

[0088] Without being bound by theory, it is assumed that at a space requirement of 0.75 m.sup.2/animal there is such a high stress level that supplementation can hardly reduce this stress level, since the available space is below the natural space requirement. With a space requirement of 2.25 m.sup.2/animal, the distance between animals is so great that animal-animal interactions are less likely to occur. An attacker's aggression can reduce before the animal acts out its aggression, and the attacked animal has more space available to escape.

[0089] Supplementation with guanidinoacetic acid consequently reduces aggressive behavior and behavioral disorders of pigs, such as tail biting, and consequently the resulting injuries and finally the economic losses.