Bozzo Giancarlo, Padalino Barbara, Bonerba Elisabetta, Barrasso Roberta, Tufarelli Vincenzo, Zappaterra Martina, Ceci Edmondo
Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Bari, Strada Provinciale per Casamassima km 3, 70010 Valenzano, Italy.
Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Bologna, Viale Giuseppe Fanin 46, 40127 Bologna, Italy.
Animals (Basel). 2020 Sep 4;10(9):1578. doi: 10.3390/ani10091578.
The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the relationship between journey duration, deck level and activation patterns of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) and sympathetic adrenal medullary system (SAM) in pigs. A total of 90 pigs were examined. The animals came from three different Italian farms associated with the same slaughterhouse located in Bari (Apulia region-Italy). A group of thirty animals was transported from Pordenone (11 h journey); a second group was transported from Terni (6.5 h journey); a third group was transported from Benevento (3 h journey). The animals were transported in the same vehicle, which complied with the structural characteristics indicated in the Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005. The truck was composed of a lorry and a trailer, each one divided into three decks. Only the animals transported in the trailer were tested for the study. Before transportation, blood samples were collected on each farm, at 6:00 a.m., from 30 pigs randomly selected out of 135 pigs ready to be transported. Blood samples were also collected during slaughter to evaluate plasma cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine, around 6:00 a.m. A journey duration of 11 h was associated with significantly higher plasma concentrations of stress hormones compared with shorter journeys. This increase was proportional to the journey duration, with the pigs travelling for 6.5 h displaying intermediate concentrations between those noticed after 3 h and 11 h journeys. The interaction between deck and journey distance was not significant on epinephrine, norepinephrine or cortisol levels collected at arrival. There was a significant effect of deck level on norepinephrine levels ( < 0.0001), a tendency to influence epinephrine levels ( = 0.073) but no effect on cortisol levels ( = 0.945). Overall, we observed that an 11 h-long journey seemed to impact negatively on pigs' HPA-SAM activity, likely requiring the animals to spend more time in the lairage facilities to recover.
这项初步研究的目的是评估猪的行程时长、车厢层级与下丘脑 - 垂体 - 肾上腺皮质轴（HPA）和交感 - 肾上腺髓质系统（SAM）激活模式之间的关系。总共检查了90头猪。这些猪来自意大利三个不同的农场，这些农场都与位于巴里（意大利普利亚大区）的同一屠宰场有关联。一组30头动物从波代诺内运输过来（行程11小时）；第二组从特尔尼运输过来（行程6.5小时）；第三组从贝内文托运输过来（行程3小时）。动物们乘坐同一辆车运输，该车符合欧盟理事会第1/2005号条例规定的结构特征。卡车由一辆货车和一辆拖车组成，每部分都分为三层。仅对拖车内运输的动物进行该研究测试。运输前，在每个农场早上6点从准备运输的135头猪中随机挑选30头猪采集血样。在屠宰时也采集血样，以评估早上6点左右的血浆皮质醇、肾上腺素和去甲肾上腺素水平。与较短行程相比，11小时的行程与应激激素的血浆浓度显著升高有关。这种升高与行程时长成正比，行程6.5小时的猪所显示的浓度处于3小时和11小时行程后所观察到的浓度之间。到达时采集的肾上腺素、去甲肾上腺素或皮质醇水平上，车厢层级与行程距离之间的相互作用不显著。车厢层级对去甲肾上腺素水平有显著影响（<0.0001），对肾上腺素水平有影响趋势（=0.073），但对皮质醇水平无影响（=0.945）。总体而言，我们观察到11小时的长途行程似乎对猪的HPA - SAM活动产生负面影响，可能需要动物在待宰圈设施中花费更多时间来恢复。
