Oral immunisation of wild boar against classical swine fever: concluding analysis of the recent field trials in Germany.

The recent oral immunisation trials in wild boar against classical swine fever (CSF) in Germany are described and evaluated in summary. After the first field study in Lower Saxony from 1993-1995 further immunisation trials started in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Brandenburg, Lower Saxony, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony-Anhalt. The immunisation strategies and the size of the vaccination zones were different in the individual federal states. In principle, the bait vaccine based on the CSF virus strain "C" were laid out by hand. Later also the aerial distribution was carried out in selected areas of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The application of baits by plane was introduced at the beginning of the immunisation measures in Saxony-Anhalt apart from the manual distribution. Up to now, the field trials show that the oral immunisation can be an additional tool for CSF control by increasing of herd immunity and reduction of the CSFV prevalence. However, the immunisation was not sufficient enough for young boars in the most field studies. Based on the evaluation of the immunisation experiments an improved immunisation procedure is recommended.

[Trials to improve weight development of suckling piglets by administration of substances with gestagenic activity to sows in puerperium]. / Versuche zur Verbesserung der Masseentwicklung von Saugferkeln durch Verabreichung gestagenwirksamer Substanzen an Puerperalsauen.

The investigations reported in this paper were undertaken against the background of literature data on successful increase of milk yield of sows by offering them gestagens, between the eighth and 21st days of lactation, and on higher weight increases thus induced in piglets before weaning. Those results should be reproduced under conditions of industrialised production, with the view to reducing the percentage of weaned piglets below normal weight. However, the results published were not confirmed by three experimental approaches, using litters of different sizes as well as different megestrol acetate doses (20 mg and 30 mg per sow/die), between the eighth and 21st days of lactation. Involved in these experiments were 579 test animals and 582 controls.