Enrichment devices for undocked heavy pigs: effects on animal welfare, blood parameters and production traits

摘要

Two independent trials were carried out to test the effectiveness of different environmentalenrichments in improving Italian heavy pigs’ welfare. Eighty undocked Landrace Large Whitebarrows (body weight range: 27.1–158.4 kg) were used. In Trial 1, group C1 received a metalchain and group WL wooden logs (placed inside a specifically designed metal rack). In trial two,the enrichments proposed were a hanging chain (C2), and a vegetal edible block (EB) inside themetal rack. General health, animal behaviour, hair cortisol, blood parameters and growth performance were recorded. In Trial 1, WL pigs interacted with the enrichment at a lower extentthan C1 (p .01) and walked less (p .05). In Trial 2, EB pigs spent less time in lateral recumbency and rooting/exploring the pen floor (p .05 and p .01, respectively), and interactedmore with the enrichment (p .001) than C2. Motivation to explore both WL and EB was maintained over time, conversely to what happened to C1 and C2. No differences were observed inhair cortisol concentration, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, skin lesions and growth parameters. Taillesions were higher in WL than in C1 (p .05) Minor, transient differences were found in plasmabiomarkers. Overall, WL had limited effect on behaviour, whereas EB might have reduced floorover-exploration when compared to the chains. It is concluded that, although from an animalbehaviour standpoint EB might be promising, regardless of the device used (C, WL or EB), allexperimental groups showed similar welfare parameters levels, stimulating the necessity forwider research on enrichment design and function.