Zigovski Gustavo, Bez Isabela Cristina Colaço, Catoia Mariana Regina Rosa, Bickel Amanda Gabriela, Daros Ruan R, Monteiro Kelly Mazutti, Carvalho Silvana Teixeira, Carvalho Paulo Levi de Oliveira, Costa Leandro Batista
Graduate Program in Animal Science, School of Medicine and Life Sciences, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Imaculada Conceição Street, 1155-Prado Velho, Curitiba 80215-901, PR, Brazil.
Monohub-Research Group for Monogastric Animals, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Paraná, Curitiba 80215-901, PR, Brazil.
Animals (Basel). 2025 Jun 25;15(13):1877. doi: 10.3390/ani15131877.
Homeopathy is widely used as a complementary therapy, but its effects on the behavior of production animals remain underexplored. This study evaluated the influence of a homeopathic complex on the behavior of castrated male and female piglets in the nursery phase. The experiment lasted 35 days and involved 105 animals. Piglets were allotted to five treatments in a completely randomized block design with seven replicates using three piglets per experimental unit. Tested treatments were: negative control-basal diet without additives; basal diets with 4.5, 6.0, 7.5, and 9.0 kg/ton of the homeopathic complex in the feed. Behavioral tests included open field (OF), novel object (NO), sociability, discriminative learning, judgment bias, and reactivity during weighing (RDW). Vocalizations were lower in females than males during the OF test ( = 0.016). In the RDW test, a trend was identified ( = 0.076): as the level of the homeopathic complex increased, escape attempts decreased in females and increased in males (sex × treatment interaction). Females also showed greater resistance to movement ( = 0.018). Our study suggests that the homeopathic complex does not impact the behavior of castrated male and female nursery piglets. The findings further illustrate that the sex of the animals affects their behavior, with females displaying higher levels of inactivity compared to castrated male piglets.
顺势疗法作为一种辅助疗法被广泛应用，但其对生产动物行为的影响仍未得到充分研究。本研究评估了一种顺势疗法复合物对保育期去势公母仔猪行为的影响。实验持续35天，涉及105只动物。仔猪按照完全随机区组设计分为五种处理，每个实验单元有三只仔猪，共七个重复。测试的处理包括：阴性对照——不添加添加剂的基础日粮；在饲料中添加4.5、6.0、7.5和9.0千克/吨顺势疗法复合物的基础日粮。行为测试包括旷场试验（OF）、新物体试验（NO）、社交性、辨别学习、判断偏差以及称重时的反应性（RDW）。在旷场试验中，雌性仔猪的发声次数低于雄性仔猪（P = 0.016）。在RDW测试中，发现了一种趋势（P = 从原文内容看此处“ = 0.076”有误，推测可能是0.076，暂按此翻译）：随着顺势疗法复合物水平的增加，雌性仔猪的逃跑企图减少，而雄性仔猪的逃跑企图增加（性别×处理交互作用）。雌性仔猪对移动也表现出更大的抵抗力（P = 0.018）。我们的研究表明，顺势疗法复合物不会影响去势公母保育仔猪的行为。研究结果进一步表明，动物的性别会影响其行为，与去势公仔猪相比，雌性仔猪表现出更高水平的不活动状态。
