Montalcini Camille M, Petelle Matthew B, Toscano Michael J
ZTHZ, Division of Animal Welfare, VPH Institute, University of Bern, 3052 Zollikofen, Switzerland.
Graduate School of Cellular and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bern, 3012 Bern, Switzerland.
R Soc Open Sci. 2023 May 24;10(5):230043. doi: 10.1098/rsos.230043. eCollection 2023 May.
Past research has supported the importance of animal personalities for the productivity and welfare of farm animals. However, current assessments of personality traits are commonly conducted over short periods using standardized assays and may not reflect all important aspects of behaviours in commercial settings throughout the production period. This study aimed to evaluate consistent behavioural differences between 194 commercial laying hens within an aviary across most of the production period (eight months). We used five spatial behaviours related to various aspects of commercial hens' daily routine, including the sleeping, feeding, nesting, indoor movements and outdoor usage. All behaviours were repeatable over time and across contexts, with consistent differences between individuals explaining between 23% and 66% of the variation. These long-term consistencies revealed the potential applicability of the behaviours as personality traits of commercial hens. Moreover, we identified behavioural syndromes comprising all behaviours except the nesting-related behaviour, indicating two axes of spatial personalities that may be driven by different mechanisms. We discussed the significance of such individual differences in using personality traits to breed more resilient farm animals. Future research should evaluate associations of these behaviours with animal welfare and productivity to inform breeding efforts.
过去的研究支持了动物个性对农场动物生产力和福利的重要性。然而，目前对个性特征的评估通常是在短时间内使用标准化试验进行的，可能无法反映整个生产周期内商业环境中行为的所有重要方面。本研究旨在评估194只商业蛋鸡在鸡舍内大部分生产周期（八个月）内一致的行为差异。我们使用了与商业母鸡日常活动各个方面相关的五种空间行为，包括睡眠、进食、筑巢、室内活动和室外活动。所有行为在时间和情境上都是可重复的，个体之间的一致差异解释了23%至66%的变异。这些长期的一致性揭示了这些行为作为商业母鸡个性特征的潜在适用性。此外，我们确定了除筑巢相关行为外包含所有行为的行为综合征，表明空间个性的两个轴可能由不同机制驱动。我们讨论了利用个性特征培育更具适应力的农场动物时这种个体差异的重要性。未来的研究应该评估这些行为与动物福利和生产力的关联，以为育种工作提供信息。
