Search Results (934)

African swine fever (ASF) is an acute, highly hemorrhagic viral disease in domestic pigs and wild boars. The disease is caused by African swine fever virus, a double stranded DNA virus of the Asfarviridae family. ASF can be classified into 25 different genotypes, based on a 478 bp fragment corresponding to the C-terminal sequence of the B646L gene, which is highly conserved among strains and encodes the major capsid protein p72. The C-terminal end of p72 has been used as a PCR target for quick diagnosis of ASF, and its characterization remains the first approach for epidemiological tracking and identification of the origin of ASF in outbreak investigations. Recently, a new classification of ASF, based on the complete sequence of p72, reduced the 25 genotypes into only six genotypes; therefore, it is necessary to have the capability to sequence the full-length B646L gene (p72) in a rapid manner for quick genotype characterization. Here, we evaluate the use of an amplicon approach targeting the whole B646L gene, coupled with nanopore sequencing in a multiplex format using Flongle flow cells, as an easy, low cost, and rapid method for the characterization and genotyping of ASF in real-time. Full article

Artificial insemination (AI) plays a critical role in livestock reproduction, with semen quality being essential. In swine, AI primarily uses cool-stored semen adhering to industry standards assessed through routine analysis, yet fertility inconsistencies highlight the need for enhanced semen evaluation. Over 10-day storage at 17 °C, boar semen samples were analyzed for motility, morphology, sperm membrane integrity, apoptosis, and oxidative stress indicators. Additionally, machine learning tools were employed to explore the potential of Raman and near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy in enhancing semen sample evaluation. Sperm motility and morphology gradually decreased during storage, with distinct groups categorized as “Good” or “Poor” survival semen according to motility on Day 7 of storage. Initially similar on Day 0 of semen collection, “Poor” samples revealed significantly lower total motility (21.69 ± 4.64% vs. 80.19 ± 1.42%), progressive motility (4.74 ± 1.71% vs. 39.73 ± 2.57%), and normal morphology (66.43 ± 2.60% vs. 87.91 ± 1.92%) than their “Good” counterparts by Day 7, using a computer-assisted sperm analyzer. Furthermore, “Poor” samples had higher levels of apoptotic cells, membrane damage, and intracellular reactive oxygen species on Day 0. Conversely, “Good” samples maintained higher total antioxidant capacity. Raman spectroscopy outperformed NIR, providing distinctive spectral profiles aligned with semen biochemical changes and enabling the prediction of semen survival during storage. Overall, the spectral profiles coupled with machine learning tools might assist in enhancing semen evaluation and prognosis. Full article

Boar semen is commonly used in artificial insemination (AI) for pig breeding, but its quality can be negatively affected by liquid preservation and transportation, leading to reduced fertility rates. Vibration and temperature fluctuations are critical factors that significantly impact semen quality during storage and transportation, influencing the success rate of AI procedures. Betaine, a naturally occurring compound known for its role in maintaining male fertility, demonstrates potential for improving the preservation and transportation of liquid-preserved boar sperm. The present study demonstrated that betaine supplementation in the semen extenders at 0.5 mg/mL had a significant protective effect on boar sperm motility during storage at 17 °C for 3 to 5 days. During road transportation, 2.5 mg/mL betaine showed significant protective effects on boar sperm progressive motility, while 0.4 mg/mL betaine notably improved boar sperm mitochondrial activity and antioxidant capacity, and reduced lipid peroxidation damage. Simulation models also demonstrated that betaine supplementation increased the proportion of sperm displaying progressive motility and possessing intact acrosomes, regardless of the storage temperature (17 °C or 25 °C), and effectively mitigated the damage caused by vibration at a speed of 200 r/min. Overall, supplementing liquid-preserved boar semen extenders with betaine shows promise in mitigating damage to sperm quality during storage and transportation. Full article

Currently, African swine fever (ASF), a highly fatal disease has become pervasive, with outbreaks recorded across European countries, leading to preventative measures to restrict wild boar (Sus scrofa L.) movement, and, therefore, keep ASF from spreading. This study aims to detail how specific human activities—defined as “car”, “dog”, “chainsaw”, and “tourism”—affect wild boar behavior, considering the disturbance proximity, and evaluate possible implications for wild boar management in ASF-affected areas. Wild boar behavior was studied using advanced biologging technology. This study tracks and analyzes wild boar movements and behavioral responses to human disturbances. This study utilizes the dead reckoning method to precisely reconstruct the animal movements and evaluate behavioral changes based on proximity to disturbances. The sound of specific human activities was reproduced for telemetered animals from forest roads from different distances. Statistical analyses show that wild boars exhibit increased vigilance and altered movement patterns in response to closer human activity, but only in a small number of cases and with no significantly longer time scale. The relative representation of behaviors after disruption confirmed a high instance of resting behavior (83%). Running was the least observed reaction in only 0.9% of all cases. The remaining reactions were identified as foraging (5.1%), walking (5.0%), standing (2.2%), and other (3.8%). The findings suggest that while human presence and activities do influence wild boar behavior, adherence to movement restrictions and careful management of human activity in ASF-infected areas is not a necessary measure if human movement is limited to forest roads. Full article

African swine fever virus (ASFV) is endemic to African wild pigs (Phacochoerus and Potamochoerus), in which viral infection is asymptomatic, and Ornithodoros soft ticks. However, ASFV causes a lethal disease in Eurasian domestic pigs (Sus scrofa). While Sub-Saharan Africa is believed to be the original home of ASFV, publicly available whole-genome ASFV sequences show a strong bias towards p72 Genotypes I and II, which are responsible for domestic pig pandemics outside Africa. To reduce this bias, we hereby describe nine novel East African complete genomes in p72 Genotype IX and present the phylogenetic analysis of all 16 available Genotype IX genomes compared with other ASFV p72 clades. We also document genome-level differences between one specific novel Genotype IX genome sequence (KE/2013/Busia.3) and a wild boar cell-passaged derivative. The Genotype IX genomes clustered with the five available Genotype X genomes. By contrast, Genotype IX and X genomes were strongly phylogenetically differentiated from all other ASFV genomes. The p72 gene region, on which the p72-based virus detection primers are derived, contains consistent SNPs in Genotype IX, potentially resulting in reduced sensitivity of detection. In addition to the abovementioned cell-adapted variant, eight novel ASFV Genotype IX genomes were determined: five from viruses passaged once in primary porcine peripheral blood monocytes and three generated from DNA isolated directly from field-sampled kidney tissues. Based on this methodological simplification, genome sequencing of ASFV field isolates should become increasingly routine and result in a rapid expansion of knowledge pertaining to the diversity of African ASFV at the whole-genome level. Full article

African swine fever (ASF) is an acute infectious disease with a high mortality rate in both domestic and wild boars. Commercial vaccines or antiviral drugs for ASF were not available due to the complex diversity of the structure and genome of its pathogen African swine fever virus (ASFV). In recent years, there have been many reports on candidate strains of attenuated vaccines for ASFV. In this study, we obtained a recombinant virus named SY18ΔL60LΔCD2v by simultaneously deleting the L60L gene and CD2v gene from highly virulent strain SY18. In vitro, SY18ΔL60LΔCD2v displayed a decreased growth kinetic compared to that of parental SY18. In vivo, high doses (10⁵ TCID₅₀) of SY18ΔL60LΔCD2v can protect pigs (5/5) from attacks by the parental SY18 strain (10² TCID₅₀). Low doses (10² TCID₅₀) of SY18ΔL60LΔCD2v only protected 20% of pigs (1/5) from attacks by the parental SY18 strain (10² TCID₅₀). The results indicated that the absence of these two genes in SY18 could induce protection against the homologous parental strain, and there were no obvious clinical symptoms or viremia. These results indicate that the SY18ΔL60LΔCD2v strain can serve as a new live attenuated vaccine candidate for the prevention and control of ASFV infection. Full article

Boar semen analysis includes sperm motility, concentration, morphology and other more complex analyses such as membrane integrity, DNA damage and seminal plasma components. This study aims to summarize these numerous data by linear combinations of them, to classify ejaculates in several categories (clusters) and to investigate the potential differences among clusters on fertility and prolificacy. Young Pietrain boars (23 ± 3.6 months) were investigated: ten boars from the Nucléus genetic line (group 1: 90 ejaculates weekly) and five boars from the Batallé genetic line (group 2: 30 ejaculates weekly). Computer-assisted semen analysis (CASA) examined motility. Sperm viability, acrosome reaction, early apoptosis, mitochondrial activity and DNA damage were studied by flow cytometry analysis. SPSS v.26 software was used to perform principal component analysis (PCA) and clustering. Three principal components (PC1: speed; PC2: linear path; PC3: DNA damage) were detected and four clusters identified in both groups. Clusters also differed significantly in several variables not included in these PCs (group 1: beat cross frequency and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase; group 2: cathepsin B, abnormal forms, mitochondrial activity and high DNA stainability). PCA and clustering achieved adequate description of these ejaculates, but no differences among clusters were found for fertility or prolificacy, probably because the minimum sperm requirements had been met. Full article

Neonatal iron deficiency anemia is prevalent among domestic pigs but does not occur in the offspring of wild boar. The main causes of this disorder in piglets of modern pig breeds are paucity of hepatic iron stores, high birth weight, and rapid growth. Replenishment of fetal iron stores is a direct result of iron transfer efficiency across the placenta. In this study, we attempted to investigate the molecular potential of iron transfer across the placenta as a possible cause of differences between wild boar and Polish Large White (PLW) offspring. Furthermore, by analyzing placentas from PLW gilts that had litters of different sizes, we aimed to elucidate the impact of the number of fetuses on placental ability to transport iron. Using RNA sequencing, we examined the expression of iron-related genes in the placentas from wild boar and PLW gilts. We did not reveal significant differences in the expression of major iron transporters among all analyzed placentas. However, in wild boar placentas, we found higher expression of copper-dependent ferroxidases such as ceruloplasmin, zyklopen, and hephaestin, which facilitate iron export to the fetal circulation. We also determined a close co-localization of ceruloplasmin and zyklopen with ferroportin, the only iron exporter. Full article

Wild boars are an opportunistic wildlife species that has successfully colonized the human-modified landscape in Europe. However, the current population boom has negative consequences, which result in a rapid increase in human–wildlife conflicts and disease transmission, including African swine fever (ASF). The increasing frequency of conflicts requires adequate solutions for these issues through various measures. Application of deterrents is a common non-lethal measure whose effects have been insufficiently verified until recently. Thus, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of odor fences, often applied as a barrier against wild boar movement. For this purpose, 18 wild boars were marked with GPS collars. After 22 days of initial monitoring, 12 sections of odor fences were installed on their home ranges. The monitored wild boars crossed the area 20.5 ± 9.2 times during the pre-installation period and 19.9 ± 8.4 times after the odor fence installation. Moreover, the average home range varied between 377.9 ± 185.0 ha before and 378.1 ± 142.2 ha after the odor fence installation. Based on GPS telemetry results, we do not support using odor repellent lines for crop protection or for limiting wild boar movement to lessen ASF outbreaks. Full article

Porcine in vitro embryo production (IVP) protocols have conventionally used density gradient selection (DGS) by centrifugation to prepare sperm samples and achieve successful fertilisation. However, the possible toxicity of the solutions used and the potential damage caused by the centrifugation step may have a negative effect on the quality of the sample. Microfluidic chip-based sperm (MCS) sorting has been proposed as an alternative technique for the selection of high-quality sperm with the purpose of improving reproductive outcomes in IVF. This device does not require centrifugation or any toxic solution to prepare the sample for fertilisation. The sample is not subjected to unnecessary stress, and the process is less operator-dependent. In this study, we compared the sperm parameters of unselected extender-diluted boar semen samples with selected samples using DGS and MCS methods. The results show an expected reduction in sperm concentration after both methods. All the groups were significantly different from one another, with MCS being the group with the lowest concentration. Though the three groups had a similar overall motility, significant differences were found in progressive motility when comparing the unselected group (control, 19.5 ± 1.4%) with DGS and MCS. Progressive motility in DGS was also significantly higher than in MCS (65.2 ± 4.9% and 45.7% ± 5.3, respectively). However, MCS selection resulted in enriched sperm samples with a significantly lower proportion of morphologically abnormal sperm compared to DGS. After fertilisation, no statistical differences were found between the two methods for embryological parameters such as cleavage rates, blastulation rates, and embryo quality. The number of cells in blastocysts derived from MCS was significantly greater than those derived from DGS sperm. Thus, we demonstrate that MCS is at least as good as the standard DGS for most measures. As a more gentle and reproducible approach for sperm selection, however, it could improve consistency and improve IVP outcomes as mediated by a greater proportion of morphologically normal sperm and manifested by a higher cell count in blastocysts. Full article

Animal and plant remains recovered from two archaeological sites in Iași city (NE Romania) were analyzed in this work. The aim of this study was to contribute to the economic and environmental evaluation of an old urban settlement. The analyzed sites, both of value in archaeological preventive research, are dated to the 18th–19th centuries. The archaeozoological analysis consisted of anatomical, taxonomic, and taphonomic identifications, quantification, estimations of age at slaughter and sex, and osteometry. The results revealed that the animal remains are of domestic origin, as indicated by traces of butchering, and can be mainly described in terms of their frequencies (i.e., number of identified specimens and minimum number of individuals), selection for slaughter, morphology, and size. The results show that animal husbandry (e.g., cattle, sheep/goat, pig, and horse) had significant importance in the economy of the settlement, and cattle were preferred for consumption. Few remains were identified for wild mammals (i.e., red deer, wild boar, and hare), birds, and mollusks. The phytolith analysis indicated that some plant resources were used in the economy of this settlement. The identification of opal silica bodies revealed the presence of grasses and cultivated cereals. Full article

African Swine Fever (ASF) is a devastating viral hemorrhagic disease that causes high morbidity and mortality in domestic pigs and wild boars, severely impacting the swine industry. The etiologic agent, African Swine Fever virus (ASFV), mainly infects myeloid cells of the swine mononuclear phagocytic system (MPS). For other porcine viruses, in vitro culture models with primary cells are widely used as they mimic the in vivo viral replication behavior better compared to continuous cell lines. Our study validates this possible correlation for ASFV using cell culture models established for three different porcine macrophages, isolated from the lungs (porcine alveolar macrophages), blood (monocyte-derived macrophages) and spleen (spleen macrophages). The cells were infected with two genotype I and two genotype II strains with different pathogenic potential in vivo. The highly virulent strains replicated better in general than the low-virulent strains. This was most pronounced in monocyte-derived macrophages, although only statistically significant 18 h post-infection (hpi) in the intracellular genomic ASFV copies between E70 and the low-virulent strains. For this reason, we conclude that the different replication characteristics between the strains with different virulence do not proportionally represent the differences in pathology seen between the strains in vivo. Additionally, ASFV-positive cells were observed earlier in monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) compared to the alveolar and spleen macrophages, subsequently leading to an earlier rise in extracellular virus, and, ultimately, more MDMs were infected at the end of sampling. For these reasons, we propose MDMs as the best-suited cell type to study ASFV. Full article

The use of exogenous hormones has long been of interest for improving reproductive performance in swine production. Enhancing litter size directly impacts the economic efficiency of pig production. Various strategies, including nutritional, genetic, and hormonal approaches, have been explored with varying degrees of success. Administering a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonist, such as buserelin, at the onset of estrus can induce ovulation and reduce the variation in ovulation timing among sows. This study assessed the impact of GnRH agonist supplementation in boar semen doses on the litter size of inseminated gilts. The research was conducted on a commercial swine herd in northern Thailand. A total of 231 Landrace × Yorkshire crossbred gilts, aged 224.5 ± 16.2 days at the onset of estrus synchronization, participated in the experiment. The gilts’ estrus was synchronized with oral altrenogest supplementation at a dosage of 20 mg/day for 18 days. After exhibiting standing estrus, the gilts were randomly divided into three groups. Control group: gilts were inseminated at 0 and 12 h post standing estrus onset with a conventional semen dose (n = 94). Treatment 1: similar to the control group, but with an added 5 µg (1.25 mL) of buserelin acetate to the boar semen dose during the first insemination (n = 71). Treatment 2: similar to the control group, but with 10 µg (2.5 mL) of buserelin acetate added to the boar semen dose during the first insemination (n = 66). All gilts were inseminated twice during their standing estrus using the intrauterine artificial insemination method. Each semen dose contained 3.0 × 10⁹ motile sperm in 80 mL. The farrowing rate averaged 78.8% and did not significantly differ between the groups (p = 0.141). The total number of piglets born per litter in the treatment 2 group was greater than in the control group (14.0 ± 0.3 vs. 13.2 ± 0.3, respectively, p = 0.049), but was not significantly different from the treatment 1 group (13.3 ± 0.3, p = 0.154). Similarly, the number of live-born piglets in the treatment 2 group was greater than in the control and treatment 1 groups (13.2 ± 0.4 vs. 12.3 ± 0.3 and 12.0 ± 0.4, respectively, p < 0.05). Moreover, the live-born piglets’ litter birth weight in the treatment 2 group was greater than in the control group (17.0 ± 0.4 vs. 15.6 ± 0.3 kg, respectively, p = 0.008) and the treatment 1 group (15.7 ± 0.4 kg, p = 0.025). In conclusion, adding a GnRH agonist to boar semen appears to enhance the litter size of gilts. Further research should focus on understanding the underlying mechanisms and determining the optimal dose and timing for GnRH agonist supplementation. Full article

African Swine Fever poses a significant threat to pig production. An outbreak in Denmark would have severe economic consequences, potentially resulting in a loss between 335 million and 670 million euros. To mitigate the major risk factors, the Danish authorities and the Danish pig industry have implemented several risk-reducing measures. The small wild boar population in Danish nature has been culled, and a fence between Denmark and Germany has been constructed to stop or reduce the risk of migrating wild boar from Germany. All trucks arriving from abroad, intended for the transport of Danish pigs, are inspected, washed, and disinfected at facilities near the border before being allowed to transport pigs between herds or from herds out of Denmark. Cross-border trade of feedstuffs and potentially risky materials is continuously monitored. Based on risk assessments, feed types or bedding materials from countries with African Swine Fever that could contain parts of wild boar are banned from Danish pig herds. Certain types of fats and oils from countries with African Swine Fever can only be used after heat treatment. The import of whole kernels of corn, wheat, or barley is not considered a risk. Full article