Putyora Endre, Brocklehurst Sarah, Sandilands Victoria
Department of Veterinary and Biosciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, 9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
Department of Agriculture, Horticulture and Engineering Sciences, Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), Edinburgh EH25 9RG, UK.
Animals (Basel). 2023 Oct 5;13(19):3105. doi: 10.3390/ani13193105.
Ensuring the welfare of commercially kept animals is a legal and ethical responsibility. Sleep behaviour can be sensitive to environmental perturbations and may be useful in assessing welfare state. The objective of this study was to use behavioural and electrophysiological (EEG) measures to observe the effects of 24 h stressors followed by periods of no stressors on laying hen sleep behaviour, and to investigate the use of sleep behaviour as a means of welfare assessment in commercial poultry. Ten laying hens surgically implanted with EEG devices to record their brain activity over four batches were used. Hens were subjected to undisturbed, disturbed and recovery periods for 24 h. Disturbed periods consisted of either feed deprivation, increased ambient temperature (28 °C) or simulated footpad pain via injection of Freund's adjuvant into the footpad. Sleep state was scored using behaviour data from infrared cameras and EEG data. Over all periods, hens engaged in both SWS (average 60%) and REM sleep (average 12%) during the lights-off period. Feed deprivation and footpad pain had little to no effect on sleep states, while increased ambient temperature significantly reduced REM sleep (to near elimination, < 0.001) and SWS ( = 0.017). During the lights-on period, footpad pain increased the proportion of time spent resting ( = 0.008) and in SWS ( < 0.001), with feed deprivation or increased ambient temperature ( > 0.05) having no effect. Increasing ambient temperatures are likely to affect sleep and welfare in commercially-kept laying hens in the face of global climate change.
确保商业养殖动物的福利是一项法律和道德责任。睡眠行为可能对环境干扰敏感,并且可能有助于评估动物的福利状态。本研究的目的是使用行为学和电生理学(脑电图,EEG)测量方法,观察24小时应激源以及随后无应激源时期对蛋鸡睡眠行为的影响,并研究将睡眠行为作为商业家禽福利评估手段的可行性。本研究使用了10只通过手术植入EEG设备的蛋鸡,分四批记录它们的大脑活动。蛋鸡经历了24小时的不受干扰期、干扰期和恢复期。干扰期包括饲料剥夺、环境温度升高(28°C)或通过向脚垫注射弗氏佐剂模拟脚垫疼痛。使用来自红外摄像机的行为数据和EEG数据对睡眠状态进行评分。在所有时期,蛋鸡在熄灯期间都有慢波睡眠(SWS,平均60%)和快速眼动睡眠(REM,平均12%)。饲料剥夺和脚垫疼痛对睡眠状态几乎没有影响,而环境温度升高显著减少了REM睡眠(几乎消除,<0.001)和SWS(=0.017)。在开灯期间,脚垫疼痛增加了休息时间的比例(=0.008)和SWS时间比例(<0.001),而饲料剥夺或环境温度升高则没有影响(>0.05)。面对全球气候变化,环境温度升高可能会影响商业养殖蛋鸡的睡眠和福利。