1ISA (institut Supérieur d'Agriculture), CASE, 48 Boulevard Vauban, 59046 Lille Cedex, France.
Animal. 2009 Jan;3(1):128-34. doi: 10.1017/S1751731108003261.
Piglet crushing remains a major problem in pig production. Reduced crushing might be obtained through genetic selection on sow behavioural traits. The aim of the study was to assess the relationship between behavioural responses at 6 months of age, around farrowing, and sows' reproductive performance including crushing levels. At 6 months of age, behavioural responses of 75 nulliparous sows were observed both during behavioural tests to human presence and to the presence of a novel object in their home pen, and their responses when placed in a weighing device. At first farrowing, nervousness of the sows was observed when placed in the farrowing crate 1 week before and the day of farrowing, as well as their fear responses when approached by a human from behind or at the front of the farrowing crate. At 6 months of age, escape from a human tended to be correlated with the reactivity in the weighing device (rs = 0.21, P = 0.09). Around first farrowing, the withdrawal reaction when a human approached at the front was correlated with the fear response when approached from behind and the nervousness of the sow in the crate (rs = 0.29, P < 0.05; rs = 0.37, P < 0.01). The fear response when approached from behind was correlated with nervousness in the crate and around farrowing (rs = 0.70, P < 0.001; rs = 0.25, P < 0.05), and nervousness in the crate was significantly correlated with the nervousness around farrowing (rs = 0.34, P < 0.01). The escape from a human at 6 months was correlated with withdrawal when approached from the front before farrowing (rs = 0.38, P < 0.01) and with nervousness of the sow in the crate (rs = 0.24, P < 0.05). The number of piglets crushed at first farrowing was correlated with the latency to approach a novel object at 6 months and nervousness around farrowing (rs = -0.27, P < 0.05; rs = 0.28, P < 0.05), and tended to be correlated with the escape behaviour from human at 6 months and withdrawal away from human presence before farrowing (rs = 0.21, P = 0.09; rs = 0.22, P = 0.08). These results suggest that behavioural responses to humans and during management practices of nulliparous sows at 6 months of age are, to some extent, related with their behaviour around farrowing and crushing levels of piglets at farrowing.
仔猪压死仍然是养猪生产中的一个主要问题。通过对母猪行为特征进行遗传选择，可能会减少压死现象。本研究的目的是评估 6 月龄母猪在接近分娩时的行为反应与母猪繁殖性能（包括压死率）之间的关系。在 6 月龄时，对 75 头初产母猪进行了行为测试，观察了它们对人类存在和对其圈舍中陌生物体的反应，以及它们在称重装置中的反应。在第一次分娩时，当母猪在分娩笼中放置在分娩前 1 周和分娩当天时，观察到它们的紧张情绪，以及当它们被人类从后面或前面接近分娩笼时的恐惧反应。在 6 月龄时，母猪从人类身边逃脱的行为倾向于与称重装置中的反应（rs = 0.21，P = 0.09）相关。在第一次分娩时，当人类从前面接近时，母猪的退缩反应与从后面接近时的恐惧反应以及母猪在分娩笼中的紧张情绪（rs = 0.29，P < 0.05；rs = 0.37，P < 0.01）相关。从后面接近时的恐惧反应与母猪在分娩笼中的紧张情绪和分娩时的紧张情绪（rs = 0.70，P < 0.001；rs = 0.25，P < 0.05）相关，而母猪在分娩笼中的紧张情绪与分娩时的紧张情绪显著相关（rs = 0.34，P < 0.01）。母猪在 6 月龄时从人类身边逃脱的行为与分娩前从前面接近时的退缩反应（rs = 0.38，P < 0.01）以及母猪在分娩笼中的紧张情绪（rs = 0.24，P < 0.05）相关。母猪在第一次分娩时被压死的仔猪数量与 6 月龄时接近陌生物体的潜伏期以及分娩时的紧张情绪（rs = -0.27，P < 0.05；rs = 0.28，P < 0.05）相关，且与母猪在 6 月龄时对人类的逃避行为以及分娩前对人类的回避行为（rs = 0.21，P = 0.09；rs = 0.22，P = 0.08）有关。这些结果表明，母猪在 6 月龄时对人类的行为反应以及在管理实践中的行为反应，在某种程度上与它们在分娩时的行为和仔猪的压死率有关。
