Stakeholders Meeting Park Hyatt Melbourne November 17 2014 Established and supported under the Australian Government’s Cooperative Research Centres’ Program.

Stakeholders MeetingPark Hyatt Melbourne

November 17 2014

Established and supported under the

Australian Government’s Cooperative Research

Centres’ Program

2A-107 Antibiotic sensitivity of H parasuis, APP & other respiratory

pathogens• Why?

– Antibiotic resistance in respiratory pathogens major problem

– Need knowledge of resistance to provide feedback to vets for TTT

• Highlights/Outcomes– The MIC and DD methods for H. parasuis are fully

validated for antibiotics commonly used– The antimicrobial resistance patterns of current isolates

of respiratory pathogens in our pig herd been completed.– AM-resistance of bacteria isolates varies greatly– within a pig, across & between batches

• Sampling implications• Management implications

– There is evidence of a low level of multi-drug resistance and of resistance to the more recently available agents

2A-108 Evaluation of oral fluid samples for herd health monitoring of pathogens &

the immune response in pigs• Why?

– Testing of oral fluids (OFs) may be a useful approach for herd health monitoring

• Highlights/Outcomes– Will be able to compare sera and OF for PCV2– Wasn’t possible to develop an assay to detect

Lawsonia antibodies in OF but results from OF qPCR & serum ELISA correlated well

– OF testing should be a cost-effective means of herd health monitoring; it has the potential to detect a wide range of viral and bacterial pathogens and associated antibody responses.

– Developed strong association with Jeff Zimmerman's lab at the University of Iowa.

2A-109 Development and validation of assays to measure gut health in

order to identify risk factors for E.coli disease in weaner pigs

• Why?– Gut health can be measured by quantifying the ratio of

beneficial and pathogenic bacteria

• Highlights/Outcomes– Ratios of commensal to pathogenic bacteria

completed– Sample collection finished – correlation of ratios with

diarrhoea scores– Ratios agreed with Nutreco’s work in the Netherlands– Lacto:C.perf or to E.coli were much higher in the

healthy pigs– Good correlatation of bacterial ratios (culture

techniques) with qPCR techniques– Identification of other commensal bacteria that may

play a more important role in influencing gut health and disease suppression.

2B-103 & 2B-104: Susanne Hermesch• Research collaborations

– Australia: CSIRO, NSW DPI, PIC Australia, Rivalea, UQ – Gatton

– International: Hélène Gilbert, INRA, France (left)Andrea Doeschl-Wilson, Roslin Institute, Scotland

• Practical selection strategies for robustness

• Consequences of selection for efficiency on aspects of robustness

• Defining disease resilience

Practical selection strategies for robustness

• Environmental variation observed on farms requires different genotypes– Growth rate is genetically a different trait when

environments differ by more than 60 g/day

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 1400.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1f(x) = 2.228057325687E-05 x² − 0.006357254914588 x + 1.10552441552429R² = 0.766839724169707

Difference between environments (means; g/day)

gen

etic

cor

rela

tion

s

Graph from Hermesch and Li (2013)

Proposed selection strategy applies simpler multi-trait approach to continuous environmental descriptor

New

Consequences of selection for efficiency on aspects of robustness

• Contrary to expectations, the more efficient line (LRFI) was less sensitive to variation in environments for growth

630660690720750780810840870900

-55 -45 -35 -25 -15 -5 5 15 25 35 45 55

g/d

LsCG , g/d

HRFI

LRFI

Unfavourable Environment Favourable Graph from Gilbert et al. (2014)

More efficient pigs may be able to derive nutrient resources more effectively when needed to face stressors.

Is the resource allocation theory too linear? New

Defining disease resilience

• Genes of the sow should be considered more in selection decisions (Hermesch et al., 2014)

• Workshop and book on resilience– Susanne Hermesch: Breeding disease resilient

pigs– Alison Collins: On-farm measures to monitor

health and immune status of pigs– Andrea Doeschl-Wilson: Inferring genetic

resilience of animals to infectious pathogens – opportunities and pitfalls

2A 102: Marc MarendaUniversity of Melbourne

• Objective: Proof of concept of: – Real time measurement of bacterial concentration in

selected sites within piggery– Total bacteria counts: Using culture– Selected pathogen counts, EC & APP: Using qPCR

• Entailed selection of suitable air sampler for field use

• Further development needed (not necessarily with CRC support)– Widen range of pathogens to include M hyo, H parasuis,

Strep suis– Cheaper sampler (Project sampler $10k)– Validate accuracy & consistency on a larger range of farms

2C 102: Alison CollinsEMAI

• Objective: to develop quantitative Lawsonia PCR for field use

• Observational studies on 4 farms with ileitis– Confirm that the variability of LI load is

limited in the absence of management changes• `Observed changes in LI load in response to

medication changes– ADG regression, 10-15 weeks of age

• 106 to 107 LI/g: Loss of 15 g/d• 107 to 108 LI/g: Loss of 140 g/d, ie 2.9 kg over a

21 day period

2C 102: Alison CollinsEMAI

• Experimental study (D0: 9 wks)

ADG, kgD49 D56 D70 D84 D 0-90

Enterisol + lime 5.7 8.9 8.6 7.3 0.871

Control 6.3 8.9 8.2 6.4 0.845

2.5 3.3 5.7 10.6 0.831

LI, log 10/g faeces

Olaquindox 50 ppm

In feed Withdrawn

Major outbreak

2C 110: Jae Kim, DAGF WA2C 112: Joshua Sweeny, DAGF

WA• Objectives: Confirmation that weaner health

& growth can be improved by suppressing the immune response to E coli infection

• 2C 110• Production trial, FCR

• Control 1.66 • Aspirin, 125 ppm 1.58• Vitamin E, 250 IU/kg 1.55• Aspirin + Vit E 1.55

• Diarrhea index• Control 6.7• Aspirin + Vit E 4.2

2C 110: Jae Kim, DAGF WA2C 112: Joshua Sweeny, DAGF

WA– 2C 112: N acetylcysteine (NAC)

• Production trial, ADG in gms/D– Control 180– NAC 0.5 g/kg + arginine 8 g/kg 239

– Other parameters• Faecal HEC score 2.9 vs 2.0

• Villus height, um 385 vs 463

• Regulatory issues with APVMA, State DPIs– Aspirin, N acetylcysteine

2C 105: Eugeni RouraUQ

• Objectives– Feeding weaners PEEOs (plant extracts & essential

oils) which are antibacterial and optimise feed intake, so reducing PWD incidence

• Entails conditioning of weaners through feeding PEEOs during pregnancy and lactation

• Stages– Phase 1: Screen candidate PEEOs in vitro for

antibacterial activity– Phase 2: Screen candidate PEEOs for capacity to

diffuse into amniotic fluid, milk (and saliva)• Methodology to be developed

– Maximise gut uptake of PEEOs by developing emulsion technology

– Phase 3: Weaner trials, preferably in association with commercial partner

2C 105: Eugeni RouraUQ

• Results– Phase 1: antibacterial action in vitro

• Best: oregano, cinnamon, clove and thyme• Best native: lemon myrtle, lemon ironbark, nerolina and

peppermint eucalyptus

– Phase 2• Methodology achieved

– Emulsion technology• Progress

– Phase 3:• One weaner trial completed

– Problems with weaner feed intake: level of PEEO inclusion needs finetuning

• Looking for commercial partner to help conduct weaner trials

2C106, 2C 113: Sharon Bishop-HurleyCSIRO• Objective: Use phage display library to identify

novel peptides antibacterial to E coli

• Progress– Selection of 3 phage display peptides which between

them:• Bind to a range of 50 Australian E coli pathotypes• Are antibacterial against the range of pathotypes

– Choice between pursuing administration of peptides attached to their phage coat, or further synthesis of peptides using recombinant technology, for administration without the phage coat

– Latter course to be pursued• Fewer biosecurity/APVMA issues• Synthetic peptides found to be more active, at this point

2C106, 2C 113: Sharon Bishop-HurleyCSIRO

• Incidental commercialisation opportunities?– Binding of peptides to EC is highly specific: indicates

potential to develop on farm diagnostic tool for faeces from infected weaners

– One of candidate peptides self assembles into an amphiphilic antibacterial gel

• Next steps, early 2015– Selection of most active and specific synthetic

peptides (3)

– Incorporation into digestion resistant nanoparticle

– Evaluation in CSIRO in-vitro fermentation model

Future Directions• APP & respiratory disease

– 2C 115: Causes of pleurisy (by June 2015)– 2C 116: Attenuated live APP vaccine strains

(by March 2016)– 2C 118: Airspace sanitation for APP control

(by December 2016)

• E coli– 2C 114: Manipulation of fibre levels in

weaner diets to control E coli infection and simultaneously use statistical sequencing to better understand what constitutes a healthy gut flora in the weaned pig (by June 2015)

Future Directions

• Prediction of disease onset

• Selection for Robustness– Molecular techniques