Association between over-chlorinated drinking water and adverse reproductive outcomes in gilts and sows: a case report

A. Tofant, M. Ostovic, S. Wolf, A. Ekert Kabalin, Z. Pavicic and J. Grizelj
Additional contact information
A. Tofant: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
M. Ostovic: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
S. Wolf: Rovisce Pig-Breeding Farm, Ltd., Rovisce, Croatia
A. Ekert Kabalin: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
Z. Pavicic: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia
J. Grizelj: Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Veterinární medicína, 2010, vol. 55, issue 8, 394-398

Abstract: The present report describes a series of adverse events recorded in gilts and sows at a pig-breeding farm. The animals were listless, had poor appetite and dyspnea, sneezed and coughed, but were afebrile. Subsequently, an increased number of spontaneous abortions occurred, eventually rising to 50 times their average number. The usual infective causes of abortion were ruled out by diagnostic testing; however, the results of drinking water analysis pointed to over-chlorination, with a free chlorine residual concentration of 2.11 mg/l, caused by failure of the chlorinator dispenser connected to the water supplying system seven days previously. Analysis of data on reproductive parameters indicated that the over-chlorinated drinking water directly induced an increase in the number of abortions after only two days of consumption, whereas 7-day consumption of over-chlorinated drinking water had a direct delayed effect on the increased return to oestrus in gilts and sows, and on the increased percentage of stillborn piglets (all P < 0.001). The consequential indirect delayed effect manifested itself as a reduced number of farrowings in gilts and sows, and a lower total number of piglets born (both P < 0.001).

Keywords: reproductive failure; gilt; sow; watering; free chlorine residual (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://vetmed.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/2958-VETMED.html (text/html)
http://vetmed.agriculturejournals.cz/doi/10.17221/2958-VETMED.pdf (application/pdf)
free of charge

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:caa:jnlvet:v:55:y:2010:i:8:id:2958-vetmed

DOI: 10.17221/2958-VETMED

Access Statistics for this article

Veterinární medicína is currently edited by Ing. Helena Smolová Ph.D.

More articles in Veterinární medicína from Czech Academy of Agricultural Sciences
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Ivo Andrle ().