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The influence of different early life enrichment on the behaviour of pigs on an Elevated Plus Maze

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2017

H. A. Van de Weerd*
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, King George VI Building, Newcastle, upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, U.K.
C. M. Docking
Affiliation:
ADAS Pig Research Unit, Terrington St. Clement, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE34 4PW, UK
J. E. L. Day
Affiliation:
ADAS Pig Research Unit, Terrington St. Clement, King’s Lynn, Norfolk, PE34 4PW, UK
S. A. Edwards
Affiliation:
University of Newcastle, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, King George VI Building, Newcastle, upon Tyne, NE1 7RU, U.K.
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Extract

Providing environmental enrichment to farmed animals such as pigs is very important to safeguard their welfare. Current legislation specifies that all pigs must have permanent access to a sufficient quantity of material to enable proper investigation and manipulation activities. Straw has always been regarded as a functional form of enrichment for pigs, but can be difficult to use in slatted housing systems. Alternative enrichment objects might be acceptable substitutes, provided they are designed according to characteristics which pigs find important (Van de Weerd et al., 2003), as pigs may lose interest in simple devices. Most enrichment studies have focussed on immediate effects on behaviour, but it is also important to find out whether there are critical periods where providing enrichment will have effects later in life. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether early life enrichment had an effect on the behavioural development of pigs. To assess this, pigs were tested on an Elevated Plus Maze (EPM) at 10 weeks of age. The EPM is a well-validated anxiety model in rodents, which has more recently been used in pigs. It provides a way to separate fear of novelty (avoidance of open arms) and activity-related elements (entries into closed arms) (Anderson et al., 2000).

Type
Theatre Presentations
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 2004

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References

Andersen, I. L., Bøe, K. E., Fœrevik, G., Janczak, A. M., Bakken, M. 2000. Behavioural evaluation of methods for assessing fear responses in weaned pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 69: 227240.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van de Weerd, H. A., Docking, C. M., Day, J. E. L., Avery, P. J., Edwards, S. A. 2003. A systematic approach towards developing environmental enrichment for pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 84: 101118.Google Scholar