Institute of Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, 29223 Celle, Germany.
Institute of Animal Welfare and Animal Husbandry, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, 29223 Celle, Germany.
Animal. 2021 Jun;15(6):100239. doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2021.100239. Epub 2021 May 31.
Tail biting is a common problem in pigs kept in conventional fully slatted pens. Suitable enrichment materials can help to prevent the occurrence of this behavioural disorder by encouraging pigs to increase exploration behaviour. We investigated whether additional flavours can increase exploration behaviour in undocked pigs. Therefore, we offered straw pellets flavoured with either fried onion (FO), strawberry (SB), ginger, almond (AL), vanilla or without flavour (control) during rearing (eight groups in total) and fattening (16 groups in total). Flavoured pellets were offered in an altering order during intervals of 1 week in material dispensers. Exploration duration at the material dispensers was continuously recorded via an ultra-high-frequency radio-frequency identification system. Pigs were weighed weekly and their tail lengths and tail injuries were scored in four categories. For analysis, changes in tail length scores compared to the previous week were calculated as Δ-tail length. The different flavours affected pigs' exploration durations in both rearing (factor flavour, P < 0.0001) and fattening (factor flavour, P < 0.0001). Highest exploration durations during rearing were recorded when straw pellets were flavoured with FO and AL compared to all others. During fattening, exploration duration was highest towards controls without significant difference to SB. Exploration durations additionally were affected by temporal effects, i.e. week and day during rearing (both factors: P < 0.0001) and fattening (both factors: P < 0.0001). During rearing, highest exploration durations were recorded in the first week and on the first day within week after changing the flavour of the straw pellets. During fattening, exploration durations varied between weeks and within weeks. The highest durations were recorded at the end of weeks, i.e. on the fifth and seventh days after material change. During rearing, tail injuries were affected by week (P < 0.0001). From the fourth week of rearing, the prevalence of tail injuries significantly increased. During the fattening period, tail injuries were affected by flavour (P < 0.05). Fattening pigs had fewest tail injuries after straw pellets flavoured with AL were offered. Altogether, based on the exploration durations, rearing pigs showed different preferences for the flavoured straw pellets but highly explored flavours differed between rearing and fattening pigs. Despite a weekly change of the flavour of straw pellets, exploration durations decreased during rearing but increased again in the transition between rearing and fattening. Thus, straw pellets with alternating flavours are a suitable possibility to provide environmental enrichment to pigs but will not prevent tail biting.
咬尾是在传统全漏缝地板饲养的猪中常见的问题。适当的丰容材料可以通过鼓励猪增加探索行为来帮助预防这种行为障碍的发生。我们研究了额外的香味是否可以增加未去势猪的探索行为。因此，我们在饲养（总共 8 组）和育肥（总共 16 组）期间用油炸洋葱（FO）、草莓（SB）、生姜、杏仁（AL）、香草或无味（对照）调味的秸秆颗粒进行饲养。在 1 周的间隔内，通过材料分配器以交替的顺序提供调味颗粒。通过超高频射频识别系统连续记录材料分配器处的探索持续时间。每周称重一次，并对尾巴长度和尾巴损伤进行 4 级评分。分析时，与前一周相比，尾巴长度评分的变化计算为Δ-尾巴长度。不同的味道在饲养（因素味道，P<0.0001）和育肥（因素味道，P<0.0001）期间均影响猪的探索时间。与其他所有饲料相比，用 FO 和 AL 调味的秸秆颗粒在饲养期间的探索时间最长。在育肥期间，对不含任何风味的对照物的探索时间最长，与 SB 无显著差异。探索时间还受到时间效应的影响，即在饲养期间（两个因素：P<0.0001）和育肥期间（两个因素：P<0.0001），周和日。在饲养期间，在改变秸秆颗粒的风味后的第一周和第一周内记录到最高的探索时间。在育肥期间，探索时间在周之间和周内变化。在周结束时记录到最高时间，即在材料变化后的第五天和第七天。在饲养期间，尾巴受伤受周的影响（P<0.0001）。从饲养的第四周开始，尾巴受伤的患病率显著增加。在育肥期间，尾巴受伤受风味的影响（P<0.05）。用 AL 调味的秸秆颗粒后，育肥猪的尾巴受伤最少。总的来说，根据探索时间，育肥猪对调味秸秆颗粒表现出不同的偏好，但饲养和育肥猪之间的高探索风味不同。尽管每周都要改变秸秆颗粒的味道，但在饲养期间，探索时间减少，但在饲养和育肥之间的过渡期间又增加了。因此，交替风味的秸秆颗粒是为猪提供环境丰容的一种合适方式，但不能预防咬尾。
