Behaviour of growing rabbits under various housing conditions

Princz, Z.; Zotte, Antonella Dalle; Radnai, I.; Bíró-Németh, E.; Matics, Zsolt; Gerencsér, Zsolt; Nagy, I.; Szendrő, Zsolt

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2007.06.013

Cited by 70 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 7 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Likewise, Lambertini et al (2001), Dal Bosco et al (2002), andMetzger et al (2003) observed similar results of slaughter weight between intensive and alternative housing system. According to Princz et al (2008), the lower weight of pen housed rabbits could be attributed to the higher locomotory activity, but in the present study, the housing area was the same in both systems. Slaughter weight of rabbit genotypes corresponded with size of different breeds.…”

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 37%

Effect of housing system and genotype on rabbit meat quality

Chodová¹,

Tůmová²,

Martinec³

et al. 2014

CZECH J ANIM SCI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT:The effect of the housing system on the carcass characteristics, physical parameters of meat quality, fatty acid composition, and muscle fibre characteristics was studied in some Czech breeds. Ninety-six rabbits from seven different breeds of Czech genetic resources (Moravian Blue, Czech White, Czech Solver, Czech Spotted, Moravian White of Brown Eye, Czech Gold, and Czech Black Guard Hair) and one rabbit commercial hybrid (Hyplus), kept in two housing systems: intensive system (wire-net cages) or alternative (straw-bedded pen), were slaughtered at the age of 91 days. Alternatively housed rabbits had lower weight at slaughter, lower weight of loin, of hind legs meat, and of renal fat than rabbits from cages. The interactions between housing system and genotype were reflected significantly in pH value, and lightness and yellowness of biceps femoris. The highest (P ≤ 0.047) pH was observed in Hyplus (6.68) from cages, while the lowest value was noted in Moravian White of Brown Eye (6.26). The significantly (P ≤ 0.010) lightest meat was detected in Czech Solver (60.93) and the darkest in Czech Gold (47.81). Alternatively reared rabbits showed significantly (P ≤ 0.001) lower monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) (26.63%) and higher (P ≤ 0.001) polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) (36.73%) contents than rabbits from cages (36.94% MUFA and 26.23% PUFA). The alternatively housed group had also higher n-3 and n-6 PUFA contents and higher PUFA : SFA ratio than the intensively housed one. Significant interactions (P ≤ 0.001) were observed in cross sectional area (CSA), diameter, and perimeter of muscle fibres of type I. The largest (P ≤ 0.001) CSA of type I muscle fibre had Czech Black Guard Hair from cages (2573.1 μm 2 ), while in pens this breed exhibited the smallest CSA (1219.6 μm 2 ), diameter (38.68 μm), and perimeter (130.2 μm). Fibre type distribution was not affected by any of the monitored parameters. The effect of interactions of the housing system and genotype was manifested mainly in physical and muscle fibre characteristics.

show abstract

Section: Resultscontrasting

confidence: 37%

Effect of housing system and genotype on rabbit meat quality

Chodová¹,

Tůmová²,

Martinec³

et al. 2014

CZECH J ANIM SCI

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It was observed that rabbits ate and drank more during the night, whereas resting behaviours were performed more during the day. Nocturnal patterns of both wild and domestic rabbits housed in cages have been widely demonstrated in the literature (Jilge, 1991;Kennedy et al, 1994;Princz et al, 2008a). Thus, our results suggest that nocturnal habits of rabbits were not affected inside the flux chamber.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 64%

“…These findings are in agreement with other authors World Rabbit sci. 21: 107-110 working with conventional cages and similar conditions such as Princz et al (2008a) and Ribikauskas et al (2010), who found a similar time budget (between 66.9 and 66.2% respectively).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…This is particularly relevant when conducting experiments in flux-controlled chambers and thus could be questioned in terms of animal welfare. Moreover, in this type of experiments, animals are usually individually housed, which might introduce another source of bad welfare (Princz et al, 2008a). Thus, time budget can be affected by the housing system , so a detailed analysis of the behaviour in circumstances such as flux-controlled or metabolic chambers is important.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Short communication: Assessment of activity patterns of growing rabbits in a flux-controlled chamber

Olivas¹,

Rodriguez-Latorre

Estellés

et al. 2013

World Rabbit Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Flux-controlled and metabolic chambers are often used for nutritional and environmental studies. However, the potential alterations of animal behaviour and welfare are so far not fully understood. In consequence, this study had 2 main objectives: to assess potential alterations of animal activity pattern and time budget inside a flux chamber, and to assess the importance of the "rearing up" behaviour. To this end, 10 growing rabbits of different ages (from 1 to 5 wk of the growing period) were housed inside a flux chamber. Their activity was continuously recorded and assessed, determining the frequency and duration of 8 different behaviours: lying, sleeping, sitting, eating, drinking, walking, rearing up and others. Nocturnal rabbit behaviour and time budget were not altered inside the chamber if compared to previously described rabbit activity under conventional cages. In addition, rabbits in this experiment presented a tendency to perform "rearing up" when housed inside the flux chamber.

show abstract

“…Moreover, rabbits kept in groups show wider behavioural patterns compared with those kept in individual or bicellular cages, with the disappearance of stereotypes, a reduction of time spent in feeding and resting and an increase in social activities, exploration and occasional aggressiveness (Podberscek et al, 1991;Dal Bosco et al, 2002;Princz et al, 2008). In the present trial, the housing system did not affect the expression or instances of the main activities (resting and feeding) and stereotypical behaviours did not occur.…”

mentioning

confidence: 42%

Housing of growing rabbits in individual, bicellular and collective cages: fear level and behavioural patterns

Trocino

Majolini

Tazzoli

et al. 2013

Animal

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

During growth (27 to 75 days of age), a total of 384 rabbits were kept in 72 individual cages, 48 bicellular cages (2 rabbits/cage) and 24 collective cages (9 rabbits/cage). To evaluate the effects of the housing system on the fear level and behavioural patterns of rabbits at the two ages (39 to 45 days and 66 to 73 days), a tonic immobility test and an open-field test were conducted and their behaviour was video recorded. In the tonic immobility test, the number of attempts to induce immobility (1.38) was lower, and the duration of immobility (47.8 s) was higher (0.05 , P , 0.01) in the rabbits housed in individual cages than in those kept in bicellular (1.72 attempts and 25.0 s of immobility) and collective cages (1.99 attempts and 25.0 s of immobility). During the open-field test, the rabbits from individual and bicellular cages showed higher latency (38.8 and 40.3 v. 27.0 s), a lower number of total (73.3 and 81.7 v. 91.9) and central displacements (3.6 and 2.8 v. 5.4) and a shorter running time (11.8 and 13.6 s v. 17.7 s) and the time biting the pen (5.5 and 9.1 s v. 28.2 s) compared with the rabbits kept in collective cages (0.05 , P , 0.001). During the 24-h video recording, the rabbits in individual and bicellular cages spent less time allogrooming (0.34% and 0.19% v. 1.44%), moving (0.74% and 0.60% v. 1.32%) and running (0.08% and 0.03% v. 0.21%) than the rabbits in the collective cages (0.01 , P , 0.001). The lowest numbers of alerts and hops were observed in the rabbits kept in bicellular cages. With increasing age, a lower number of rabbits were sensitive to the immobility test and more rabbits entered the pen spontaneously during the open-field test (P , 0.001). In conclusion, the rabbits in individual cages exhibited the highest fear level and incomplete behavioural patterns; the rabbits housed in collective cages showed the lowest fear levels and had the possibility of expressing a wider range of behaviour; and the rabbits in bicellular cages exhibited an inconsistent pattern of fear in the tonic immobility and open-field tests. Probably, these rabbits were in a less stressful condition compared with animals in individual cages because social contacts were allowed, even if freedom of movement was more limited.Keywords: housing system, fear level, behaviour, growing rabbits ImplicationsPeople are concerned about the welfare status of rabbits reared for meat production in small cages. This paper demonstrates that housing rabbits in individual or bicellular cages threatens their welfare by increasing their fear level and by limiting their possibility of expressing normal behaviour. In collective cages (9 rabbits/cage), social contacts and movements are permitted, and both fear response and behavioural patterns improve. The tonic immobility and the open-field tests can be used to compare the fear level of rabbits in different housing systems.

show abstract

Behaviour of growing rabbits under various housing conditions

Cited by 70 publications

References 7 publications

Effect of housing system and genotype on rabbit meat quality

Effect of housing system and genotype on rabbit meat quality

Short communication: Assessment of activity patterns of growing rabbits in a flux-controlled chamber

Housing of growing rabbits in individual, bicellular and collective cages: fear level and behavioural patterns

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About