Beyond the Oink: Salivary Gland biomarkers as the new frontier in pig welfare assessment
▶Summary
The European Union has 134.32 million heads of pigs and produces the second-largest amount of pork in the world. In view of the importance of the livestock sector, the EU is increasingly interested in animal welfare measures across its entire livestock production system. This is because optimized biosecurity measures and management practices which are preventive tools for spread of pathogens does not guarantee high animal welfare or optimal sanitary status. The project, Porcine Welfare (PoWe) aims to develop an innovative analytical tool for monitoring pig welfare using non-invasive analytical tool for monitoring pig welfare using non-invasive and painless saliva sample collection. To achieve the objective of PoWe, the researcher will combine her knowledge in molecular biology, clinical chemistry and pathology with the expertise in proteomics, organoid technology and veterinary clinical analysis of the supervisors in the host and secondment institutions. The analytical tool will be constructed by utilising the best salivary gland (SG)-derived biomarkers identified in single-cell and organoid cultures of the three major SG subjected to experimental infection and heat stress. The gender-specific biomarkers identified by proteomics in-vitro will be validated in saliva samples of pigs in field conditions and will reveal gender-based differences in the biomarkers that are produced in response to welfare dysregulation. The proposed tool will enhance early and optimal disease monitoring that could prevent avoidable mortality, reduce financial investment on therapeutic treatments, and reduce the overuse or misuse of antimicrobial agents and thus improve animal welfare. The biomarkers that will be validated in PoWe will be used to develop saliva-based diagnostic test kits or point-of-care devices for an early detection of pathological conditions by farmers before the arrival of a veterinarian. Thus healthier pigs and increased safety pork product will be obtained.