Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7024, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Box 7024, 750 07 Uppsala, Sweden.
Animal. 2024 Nov;18(11):101349. doi: 10.1016/j.animal.2024.101349. Epub 2024 Oct 4.
The increased focus on group housing of sows in commercial pig production emphasises the importance of saving appropriate gilts which later become sows that are well-adapted to group housing systems. This study aimed to assess the short-term effects of social mixing experience and genetic line on social and exploration responses of young gilts in standardised 3-min social challenge paired interaction tests. The study included 96 gilts, from 26 litters, of two different genetic lines (Swedish Yorkshire and Dutch Yorkshire). These lines were chosen because the dam lines have been selected in group-housed and individual stall systems, respectively, a background which was hypothesised to have modified their social behaviour over time. The gilts were subjected to different early (opportunity to co-mingle with piglets in the neighbouring farrowing pen vs. no opportunity to co-mingle) and late (mixed with unfamiliar piglets at weaning vs. kept with familiar littermates after weaning) social mixing treatments, to test whether the enhanced social experience was beneficial in a socially challenging situation. Paired interaction tests were conducted at 5 and 20 weeks of age, and social and exploration behaviour of the gilts was recorded and analysed. The results showed that Swedish Yorkshire gilts explored the pen fittings more than Dutch Yorkshire gilts during the 5-week test, whereas Dutch Yorkshire gilts explored the pen fittings more than Swedish Yorkshire gilts during the 20-week test. No differences in play behaviour were found during the 5-week test, but in the 20-week test, gilts with early social mixing experience in their farrowing pen showed more locomotor play behaviour than gilts without this experience. Overall, these results suggest that genetic line and early social mixing experience can influence the social and exploration behaviours of young gilts in paired interaction tests. There was no support for the hypothesis that genetic selection in different housing systems has altered social behaviour, but it may have affected the level of exploration behaviour. There was little support for our prediction that early social experience has beneficial effects in a socially challenging situation.
在商业养猪生产中，母猪群体饲养的关注度不断提高，这强调了保存适当后备母猪的重要性，这些后备母猪日后将适应群体饲养系统。本研究旨在评估社交混合经历和遗传品系对年轻后备母猪在标准化 3 分钟社交挑战配对互动测试中的社交和探索反应的短期影响。该研究包括来自 26 窝的 96 头后备母猪，它们来自两个不同的遗传品系（瑞典约克夏和荷兰约克夏）。选择这些品系是因为母系分别在群体饲养和个体畜栏系统中进行了选择，这一背景据推测随着时间的推移改变了它们的社交行为。后备母猪接受了不同的早期（有机会与相邻分娩栏中的仔猪混合饲养与无机会混合饲养）和晚期（断奶时与不熟悉的仔猪混合饲养与断奶后与熟悉的同窝仔猪一起饲养）社交混合处理，以测试增强的社交经验是否对具有挑战性的社交情况有益。在 5 周龄和 20 周龄时进行配对互动测试，记录和分析后备母猪的社交和探索行为。结果表明，在 5 周龄测试中，瑞典约克夏后备母猪比荷兰约克夏后备母猪更探索畜栏设备，而在 20 周龄测试中，荷兰约克夏后备母猪比瑞典约克夏后备母猪更探索畜栏设备。在 5 周龄测试中没有发现玩耍行为的差异，但在 20 周龄测试中，在分娩栏中有早期社交混合经验的后备母猪比没有这种经验的后备母猪表现出更多的运动玩耍行为。总的来说，这些结果表明，遗传品系和早期社交混合经验可以影响后备母猪在配对互动测试中的社交和探索行为。没有证据支持不同饲养系统的遗传选择改变了社交行为的假设，但它可能影响了探索行为的水平。几乎没有证据支持我们的预测，即早期社交经验在具有挑战性的社交情况下具有有益的影响。
