Despite the importance of swine intestinal health, there are no easy-to-use and cost-efficient methods to evaluate it under field conditions for sows. To provide some indication about intestinal health, pH of faeces could be used but reference values for the currently high-performing commercial sow breeds are missing. In response, faecal pH of healthy sows from three different herds (herd A: 230 sows, herd B: 350 sows, herd C: 500 sows) was measured throughout the reproductive cycle. Within each herd, 10 sows were selected and rectal faeces samples were collected at different time points during the reproductive cycle: day 90 of gestation, day 1, 7, 14 and 21 of lactation, 7 days post-weaning and day 30 of the next gestation. In addition, data on sow body condition (back fat), feed composition and coarseness of the feed were collected. For individual pH measurements, the pH ranged from 6.30 to 7.93. However, for all herds together, the average faecal pH value of the sows throughout the reproductive cycle ranged from 6.89 to 7.15. Also, the variations due to sow and time of sampling during the reproductive cycle were low with coefficients of variation of less than 5%. The results from the pairwise comparisons of the statistical model showed that in the last stages of lactation (i.e., at day 21), significantly lower average pH values (p â‰¤ .05) are expected when compared to earlier stages of lactation (days 3 or 7), or at day 7 post-weaning or compared to day 30 of the next gestation. Bearing its limitations, our study provided reference faecal pH values from high-performing commercial sows under field conditions and as such they could be used directly in the field. Yet, further research is needed to provide more information on the factors affecting pH values throughout the reproductive cycle of the sow.

中文翻译：

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商品猪群中母猪整个生殖周期的粪便 pH 值

尽管猪肠道健康很重要，但没有易于使用且具有成本效益的方法在母猪的田间条件下对其进行评估。为了提供有关肠道健康的一些指标，可以使用粪便的 pH 值，但缺少当前高性能商业母猪品种的参考值。作为回应，在整个繁殖周期中测量了来自三个不同猪群（A 群：230 头母猪，B 群：350 头母猪，C 群：500 头母猪）的健康母猪的粪便 pH 值。在每个猪群中，选择 10 头母猪，并在生殖周期的不同时间点收集直肠粪便样本：妊娠第 90 天、泌乳第 1、7、14 和 21 天，断奶后 7 天和下一个第 30 天妊娠。此外，还收集了有关母猪体况（背肥）、饲料成分和饲料粗度的数据。对于单独的 pH 值测量，pH 值范围为 6.30 至 7.93。然而，对于所有猪群，整个繁殖周期中母猪的平均粪便 pH 值范围为 6.89 至 7.15。此外，由于母猪和繁殖周期采样时间引起的变异很小，变异系数小于 5%。统计模型成对比较的结果表明，在泌乳的最后阶段（即第 21 天），平均 pH 值显着降低（p  ≤ .05) 预计与早期泌乳阶段（第 3 天或第 7 天）、断奶后第 7 天或与下一次妊娠的第 30 天相比。由于其局限性，我们的研究提供了高性能商品母猪在田间条件下的参考粪便 pH 值，因此它们可以直接用于田间。然而，需要进一步研究以提供更多关于影响母猪整个生殖周期 pH 值的因素的信息。