Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-75dct Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-10T19:45:27.128Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Environmental enrichment reduces behavioural alterations induced by chronic stress in Japanese quail

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 October 2014

A. Laurence ,
C. Houdelier ,
L. Calandreau ,
C. Arnould ,
A. Favreau-Peigné ,
C. Leterrier ,
A. Boissy  and
S. Lumineau
A. Laurence
Affiliation:
UMR 6552 EthoS, Rennes University, CNRS, 263 avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France
C. Houdelier
Affiliation:
UMR 6552 EthoS, Rennes University, CNRS, 263 avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France
L. Calandreau
Affiliation:
UMR 85, INRA, CNRS, Tours University, 37380 Nouzilly, France
C. Arnould
Affiliation:
UMR 85, INRA, CNRS, Tours University, 37380 Nouzilly, France
A. Favreau-Peigné
Affiliation:
UMR 85, INRA, CNRS, Tours University, 37380 Nouzilly, France
C. Leterrier
Affiliation:
UMR 85, INRA, CNRS, Tours University, 37380 Nouzilly, France
A. Boissy
Affiliation:
UMR1213 Herbivores, INRA, 63122 Saint-Genès Champanelle, France
S. Lumineau*
Affiliation:
UMR 6552 EthoS, Rennes University, CNRS, 263 avenue du Général Leclerc, 35042 Rennes, France
*
†E-mail: sophie.lumineau@univ-rennes1.fr
Get access

Abstract

Animals perceiving repeated aversive events can become chronically stressed. Chronic activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis can have deleterious consequences on physiological parameters (e.g. BW, blood chemistry) and behaviour (e.g. emotional reactivity, stereotypies, cognition). Environmental enrichment (EE) can be a mean to reduce animal stress and to improve welfare. The aim of this study was first, to assess the effects of EE in battery cages on the behaviour of young Japanese quail and second, to evaluate the impact of EE on quail exposed to chronic stress. The experiment involved quail housed in EE cages and submitted or not to a chronic stress procedure (CSP) (EE cages, control quail: n=16, CSP quail: n=14) and quail housed in standard cages and exposed or not to the CSP (standard non-EE cages, control quail: n=12, CSP quail: n=16). Our procedure consisted of repeated aversive events (e.g. ventilators, delaying access to food, physical restraint, noise) presented two to five times per 24 h, randomly, for 15 days. During CSP, EE improved quail’s welfare as their stereotypic pacing decreased and they rested more. CSP decreased exploration in all quail. After the end of CSP, quail presented increased emotional reactivity in emergence test. However, the effect of EE varied with test. Finally, chronic stress effects on comfort behaviours in the emergence test were alleviated by EE. These results indicate that EE can alleviate some aspects of behavioural alterations induced by CSP.

Keywords

environmental enrichmentbehaviourdevelopmentquailwelfare
Type
Research Article
Information
animal , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , February 2015 , pp. 331 - 338
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adkins, EK 1973. Functional castration of the female Japanese quail. Physiology and Behavior 10, 619–621.Google Scholar
Boissy, A, Manteuffel, G, Jensen, MB, Moe, RO, Spruijt, B, Keeling, LJ, Winckler, C, Forkman, B, Dimitrov, I, Langbein, J, Bakken, M, Veissier, I and Aubert, A 2007. Assessment of positive emotions in animals to improve their welfare. Physiology and Behavior 92, 375–397.Google Scholar
Broom, DM 1991. Animal welfare: concepts and measurement. Journal of Animal Science 69, 4167–4175.Google Scholar
Buchwalder, T and Wechsler, B 1997. The effect of cover on the behaviour of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 54, 335–343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calandreau, L, Favreau-Peigné, A, Bertin, A, Constantin, P, Arnould, C, Laurence, A, Lumineau, S, Houdelier, C, Richard-Yris, MA, Boissy, A and Leterrier, C 2011. Higher inherent fearfulness potentiates the effects of chronic stress in the Japanese quail. Behavioural Brain Research 225, 505–510.Google Scholar
Chamove, AS 1989. Cage design reduces emotionality in mice. Laboratory Animals 23, 215–219.Google Scholar
Collins, SA, Archer, JA and Barnard, CJ 2008. Welfare and mate choice in zebra finches: effect of handling regime and presence of cover. Animal Welfare 17, 11–17.Google Scholar
Cornetto, T, Estevez, I and Douglass, LW 2002. Using artificial cover to reduce aggression and disturbances in domestic fowl. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 75, 325–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cyr, NE and Romero, LM 2007. Chronic stress in free-living European starlings reduces corticosterone concentrations and reproductive success. General and Comparative Endocrinology 151, 82–89.Google Scholar
Davis, NJ, Prescott, NB, Savory, CJ and Wathes, CM 1999. Preferences of growing fowls for different light intensities in relation to age, strain and behaviour. Animal Welfare 8, 193–203.Google Scholar
Favreau-Peigné, A, Calandreau, L, Constantin, P, Gaultier, B, Bertin, A, Arnould, C, Laurence, A, Richard-Yris, MA, Houdelier, C, Lumineau, S, Boissy, A and Leterrier, C 2014. Emotionality modulates the effect of chronic stress on feeding behaviour in birds. PLoS One 9, e87249.Google Scholar
Forkman, B, Boissy, A, Meunier-Salaün, MC, Canali, E and Jones, RB 2007. A critical review of fear tests used on cattle, pigs, sheep, poultry and horses. Physiology and Behavior 92, 340–374.Google Scholar
Grigor, PN, Hughes, BO and Appleby, MC 1995. Effects of regular handling and exposure to an outside area on subsequent fearfulness and dispersal in domestic hens. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 44, 47–55.Google Scholar
Guibert, F, Richard-Yris, MA, Lumineau, S, Kotrschal, K, Bertin, A, Petton, C, Möstl, E and Houdelier, C 2011. Unpredictable mild stressors on laying females influence the composition of Japanese quail eggs and offspring’s phenotype. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 132, 51–60.Google Scholar
Guyomarc’h, C and Guyomarc’h, J 1984. The influence of social factors on the onset of egg production in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Biology of Behaviour 9, 333–342.Google Scholar
Hawkins, P, Morton, DB, Cameron, D, Cuthill, I, Francis, R, Freire, R, Gosler, A, Healy, S, Hudson, A, Inglis, I, Jones, A, Kirkwood, J, Lawton, M, Monaghan, P, Sherwin, C and Townsend, P 2001. Laboratory birds: refinements in husbandry and procedures. Laboratory Animals 35, 1–163.Google Scholar
Huber-Eicher, B and Wechsler, B 1998. The effect of quality and availability of foraging materials on feather pecking in laying hen chicks. Animal Behaviour 55, 861–873.Google Scholar
Jones, RB 1987. The assessment of fear in the domestic fowl. In Cognitive aspects of social behaviour in the domestic fowl (ed. Zayan R and Duncan IJH), pp. 40–81. Elsevier, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Jones, RB 1996. Fear and adaptability in poultry: insights, implications and imperative. World’s Poultry Science Journal 52, 131–174.Google Scholar
Jones, RB and Merry, BJ 1988. Individual or paired exposure of domestic chicks to an open field: some behavioural and adrenocortical consequences. Behavioural Processes 16, 75–86.Google Scholar
Keeling, L and Jensen, P 2009. Abnormal behaviour, stress and welfare. In The ethology of domestic animals: an introductory text (ed. Jensen P), pp. 85–101. CABI, Wallingford, UK.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laurence, A, Houdelier, C, Petton, C, Calandreau, L, Arnould, C, Favreau-Peigné, A, Leterrier, C, Boissy, A, Richard-Yris, MA and Lumineau, S 2012. Japanese quail’s genetic background modulates effects of chronic stress on emotional reactivity but not spatial learning. PLoS One 7, e47475.Google Scholar
Marin, MT, Cruz, FC and Planeta, CS 2007. Chronic restraint or variable stresses differently affect the behavior, corticosterone secretion and body weight in rats. Physiology and Behavior 90, 29–35.Google Scholar
Meehan, CL and Mench, JA 2002. Environmental enrichment affects the fear and exploratory responses to novelty of young Amazon parrots. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 79, 75–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meehan, CL, Garner, JP and Mench, JA 2004. Environmental enrichment and development of cage stereotypy in Orange-winged Amazon parrots (Amazona amazonica). Developmental Psychobiology 44, 209–218.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mignon-Grasteau, S, Roussot, O, Delaby, C, Faure, JM, Mills, A, Leterrier, C, Guémené, D, Constantin, P, Mills, M, Lepape, G and Beaumont, C 2003. Factorial correspondence analysis of fear-related behaviour traits in Japanese quail. Behavioural Processes 61, 69–75.Google Scholar
Miller, KA and Mench, JA 2005. The differential effects of four types of environmental enrichment on the activity budgets, fearfulness, and social proximity preference of Japanese quail. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 95, 169–187.Google Scholar
Mills, AD and Faure, JM 1986. The estimation of fear in domestic quail: correlations between various methods and measures. Biology of Behaviour 11, 235–243.Google Scholar
Minvielle, F, Mills, AD, Faure, JM, Monvoisin, JL and Gourichon, D 2002. Fearfulness and performance related traits in selected lines of Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica). Poultry Science 81, 321–326.Google Scholar
Moura, DJ, Nääs, IA, Pereira, DF, Silva, R and Camargo, GA 2006. Animal welfare concepts and strategy for poultry production: a review. Revista Brasileira de Ciência Avícola 8, 137–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muir, WM and Craig, JV 1998. Improving animal well-being through genetic selection. Poultry Science 77, 1781–1788.Google Scholar
Nazar, FN and Marin, RH 2011. Chronic stress and environmental enrichment as opposite factors affecting the immune response in Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). Stress 14, 166–173.Google Scholar
Newberry, RC 1995. Environmental enrichment: increasing the biological relevance of captive environments. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 44, 229–243.Google Scholar
Van de Weerd, HA, Aarsen, EL, Mulder, A, Kruitwagen, CLJ, Hendriksen, CF and Baumans, V 2002. Effects of environmental enrichment for mice: variation in experimental results. Journal Applied Animal Welfare Science 5, 87–109.Google Scholar
Widman, DR, Abrahamsen, GC and Rosellini, RA 1992. Environmental enrichment: the influences of restricted daily exposure and subsequent exposure to uncontrollable stress. Physiology and Behavior 51, 309–318.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wiepkema, PR and Schouten, WGP 1992. Stereotypies in sows during chronic stress. Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics 57, 194–199.Google Scholar
Willner, P 1997. Validity, reliability and utility of the chronic mild stress model of depression: a 10-year review and evaluation. Psychopharmacology 134, 319–329.Google Scholar
Wood-Gush, DGM and Vestergaard, K 1989. Exploratory behavior and the welfare of intensively kept animals. Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics 2, 161–169.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zeltner, E, Klein, T and Huber-Eicher, B 2000. Is there social transmission of feather pecking in groups of laying hen chicks? Animal Behaviour 60, 211–216.Google Scholar