Evaluation of environmental enrichment on productive and behavioral responses of finishing pigs

Tavares, Mariana Coelly Modesto Santos; Silva, Iran J. O. da; Arno, Alessandra; Lara, Idemauro Antônio Rodrigues de; Salvador, Maria Letícia; Silveira, Robson Mateus Freitas

doi:10.1007/s11250-023-03565-9

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…The increasing concern and interest of global markets, associated with regulatory policies, has raised the demand for improvement in processes of animal production to meet animal welfare guidelines [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] and thus provide humane handling to animals and a protein production chain with high levels of animal welfare [ 4 , 5 , 6 ]. An important resource to achieve these objectives is the use of environmental enrichment, which can be implemented in different stages of the production cycle [ 1 ], as well as during the pre-slaughter operations [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 ], to reduce the incidence of undesirable behaviors between animals by distracting them and, thus, preventing high levels of stress [ 11 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of Lairage and Environmental Enrichment on Behavioral Responses and Skin Lesions in Finishing Pigs in a Slaughterhouse

Sobral,

Silveira,

Guesine

et al. 2024

Animals

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Different resources, such as environmental enrichment, are being evaluated in order to minimize animal stress and promote better conditions during the life cycle of animals, as consumers are increasingly concerned about animal welfare issues. Lairage represents an important stage in the swine production chain and is directly related to animal welfare. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of lairage time in the slaughterhouse and environmental enrichment on the level of skin lesions and behavioral responses in pigs. A total of 648 finishing pigs of both sexes were assessed before and after lairage at the slaughterhouse with a five-point scale (0 = none, to 4 = ≥16 superficial lesions or >10 deep lesions). After lairage (after slaughter), lesions were also classified according to their source (mounting, fighting, and handling). Pigs were distributed into two treatments groups during lairage: with environmental enrichment (EE) on the pen, with hanging metal chains, and with no enrichment (NE). Behavior was monitored during the first four hours of lairage. Proportional odds, mixed linear model for longitudinal data, and non-parametric Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used to analyze the relation between treatments, skin lesions, and behavior. The simple metal chains did not affect skin lesion score or pigs’ behavior (p > 0.05), whereas lairage duration influenced standing (SA), sitting (S), lying (L), idleness (I), and drinking water (D) (p < 0.001). The main source of skin lesions was handling, which did not differ between treatments (EE and NE) (p > 0.05). It was observed that the severity of the lesions (highest scores of 3, 4, and 5) increased in the different anatomical regions of the pigs when compared before and after slaughter, with the exception of the frontal area, which was the same (p = 0.7547). Lairage time has a proportional relation with skin lesions, and hanging chains at the slaughterhouse pens was not enough to reduce the number of lesions and to change pig behavior.

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