Animal Behavior and Well-Being: Focus on Physiological Response

摘要

Animal agriculture sustainability is being challenged by a rapidlyincreasing global human population, environmental pressures such asclimate change, and a push toward reducing or eliminating antibiotic use.As a result, livestock producers are tasked with producing more animalproducts with less inputs and technologies while ensuring that appropriateanimal welfare standards are maintained. The belief that distressshould be limited for livestock to improve welfare is widely acceptedby producers, scientists, and the public, and as such, farm animal welfareis an important societal issue. However, the correct way to assessthe welfare state of livestock is often debated and using sound scienceto define what constitutes “good” animal welfare is a key componentof developing animal husbandry practices and mitigation strategies toimprove animal welfare while maintaining economic sustainability. Thestudy of animal welfare is unique in that it often incorporates multiplescientific disciplines (i.e., stress physiology, behavior, immunology,nutrition) to evaluate the impact of various stressors on animal welfareand understand the interactions between differing biological systemsunder stressful conditions. Therefore, a multidisciplinary assessmentof livestock welfare allows scientists to determine the relationshipsbetween animal behavior and physiology that can affect welfare statesand ultimately influence animal performance and production efficiency.