Effect of oxygen inhalation at birth on the reduction of early postnatal mortality in pigs

Asphyxia during delivery is considered a main cause of stillbirth in pigs, but piglets suffering from intermittent; asphyxia during delivery are also less viable at; birth and less prone to adapt to extrauterine life. In an e ffort to improve pig viability, one attractive solution would be: to increa se oxygen supply through oxygen inhalation by the newborn pig. The objectiv e of this study was to test effects of oxygen inhalation immediately after birth on various physiological parameters and piglet survival. The experime nt was performed on 252 Pietrain x Large White piglets, half of them reoxyg enated immediately after birth. They were maintained during 20 min in a cha mber where oxygen concentration was monitored at 40% and were then put back with the sow and the control pigs. Oxygen inhalation affected piglet metab olism. Through stimulation of oxidative metabolism (reduction of circulatin g levels of lactate) and lowering of the level of postnatal hypothermia (pa rticularly for the lightest pigs), oxygen inhalation increased piglet viabi lity and reduced mortality during the Ist d of life by 75% (2 vs 8%). No ad ditional effects were observed during the following days and overall mortal ity between birth and weaning at 21 d was reduced from 12 to 8%.