Applied Animal Behaviour Science最新文献

{"title":"Effects of a combination of feed dilution and roughage on home pen behaviour in Ross 308 broiler breeder cockerels","authors":"Guro Vasdal ,&nbsp;Kathe E. Kittelsen ,&nbsp;Ingrid C. de Jong ,&nbsp;Fernanda M. Tahamtani","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106514","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106514","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Restricted feeding during the rearing phase is an ongoing welfare challenge in the broiler breeder industry, and there is especially a knowledge gap regarding potential effects of alternative feeding strategies for broiler breeder cockerels. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a qualitative feed restriction using diluted feed with insoluble fibres combined with roughage on the home pen behaviour of broiler breeder cockerels. A total of 200 Ross 308 broiler breeder cockerels were housed in 12 pens (6 pens/treatment), 17 birds/pen from 5 to 10 weeks of age. The treatments were standard feed (Control) and feed diluted with 20 % insoluble oat hulls and 150 g of lucerne roughage daily/pen (D+R). The D+R birds received 20 % more feed per day. Observation of home pen behaviours were performed in week 6, 8 and 10 during three different periods of the day relative to feeding time: 1 h prior to feeding, 1 h during feeding and 4 h after feeding. There were no differences between treatments with regards to time spent standing, foraging, locomotion, oral behaviours or aggression. Differences between treatments with regards to drinking and comfort behaviour were found, but the direction of these effects were not consistent across age or time of day. In conclusion, limited effects of diluted feed on home pen behaviour in Ross 308 broiler breeder cockerels were found.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106514"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143163277","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Light spectrum and intensity preferences of fast- and slower-growing broilers vary by age, behaviour and time of day","authors":"Malou van der Sluis ,&nbsp;Jerine A.J. van der Eijk ,&nbsp;Tomas Izquierdo Garcia-Faria ,&nbsp;Dennis E. te Beest ,&nbsp;Maaike Wolthuis-Fillerup ,&nbsp;Ingrid C. de Jong","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106532","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106532","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Light is an important management factor in broiler production. However, our knowledge of broiler preferences for different lighting conditions is limited, especially regarding changes in preference with age, across breeds with different growth rates and for different behaviours. Here we investigated preferences of fast- (Ross 308; <strong>R</strong>) and slower-growing (Hubbard JA757; <strong>H</strong>) broilers for a combination of light spectra (sky blue (<strong>S</strong>) and green (<strong>G</strong>) light) and intensities (15 and 100 lux), examining over time 1) where broilers chose to spend most time, 2) what behaviours were performed, and 3) the feed intake of the birds. A choice test setup was applied, where broilers were housed in replicate pens with four compartments that they could freely move between, with the four light conditions (15S, 15G, 100S and 100G) provided in the separate compartments. The birds’ locations were scored every five minutes, two days a week, using an automated computer vision approach. Behaviour was observed through instantaneous scan sampling at five ages per breed and feed intake was recorded per compartment approximately every week. It was observed that broilers initially spent most of the daytime in bright, G light (week 1), before a preference for bright, S light came up (weeks 2–3 for R broilers, week 2 for H broilers) and then no clear preference was visible for weeks 4–6 for R and 3–6 for H broilers. For H broilers, a preference for low intensity light was shown in weeks 7–8 with no clear preference for G or S light. We observed differences in the proportions of behaviours shown in the light treatments, with more inactive behaviour in dimmer and S light conditions and more active behaviours in brighter and/or G light conditions. Furthermore, there was an initial higher feed intake in 100G for R birds, and a higher feed intake in 100S than in 15S later on. For H birds, there was a higher feed intake at 15 lux than at 100 lux (for both spectra) at the end of the production period. Overall, the outcomes of this study highlight that broiler preferences for specific light conditions differ between breeds, ages and for different behaviours. These outcomes can inform the development of functional lighting programs for fast- and slower-growing broilers and suggest that providing broilers with variation in light conditions in space and time may better suit the birds’ behavioural needs and preferences, hereby potentially improving broiler welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106532"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143163286","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"“Decoding ambiguity”: Asian elephants’ (Elephas maximus) use previous experiences and sensory information to make decisions regarding ambiguity","authors":"Sagarika Phalke ,&nbsp;Cécile Sarabian ,&nbsp;Alice C. Hughes ,&nbsp;Hannah S. Mumby","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106525","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106525","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Animals rely on sensory information from the environment to make optimal decisions. However, animals are often faced with incomplete or ambiguous information. Some species use sensory information and previous experiences to generate expectations about ambiguity. To test this, we used a cognitive bias test experimentally modified for Asian elephants (<em>Elephas maximus</em>) to investigate how they respond to ambiguous cues after positive (rewarded) and negative (unrewarded) experiences. We manipulated the degree of ambiguity by associating the spatial position and colour of the cues to either previously experienced positive or negative experiences. We demonstrate that elephants use previous experiences, and the valence (affective value) attached to those experiences to make decisions regarding ambiguity. Elephants show a positive bias by opening the ambiguous positive box three times as often and twice as quickly compared to the negative cue. Conversely, they are less likely to open and slower to respond to the ambiguous negative cue. These results are consistent with responses of farm animals and captive wild mammals when faced with unconditioned ambiguous cues with perceptual overlaps. Our findings indicate that when making decisions under ambiguity, animals rely on cognitive and sensory mechanisms. A greater understanding of decision-making mechanisms could aid in understanding animals' responses to their immediate environment with potential implications for conservation and welfare.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106525"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162381","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Refinement of personality measures in European minks: Effect of sex, age and maternal factors","authors":"Lorena Ortiz-Jiménez ,&nbsp;Gloria Fernández-Lázaro ,&nbsp;Roberto Latorre ,&nbsp;Isabel Barja","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106520","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106520","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The incorporation of animal personality has been proven to enhance animal welfare and conservation programs. However, there is a need of refinement of its methodology and more research on its plasticity. We investigated European mink personality at a Spanish conservation center using behavioral coding (control and novel object tests) and caregiver trait ratings (questionnaires). Mink behavior was assessed through individual focal sampling with 1–0 time recording and using four novel objects. We examined differences by age, sex, and maternal lineage or litter effects. Findings showed good interrater reliability for seven of nine adjectives and significant correlations with behavioral measures, validating the method. More aggressive minks were generally more active, exited the nest box sooner, and approached and manipulated novel objects more quickly. Minks showed particular interest in one object (a red frisbee), indicating the need for careful consideration of object characteristics. Sex and age impacted personality traits. Males approached and manipulated novel objects sooner and more frequently than females. Adults exited the nest box sooner, exhibited greater locomotion, and approached and manipulated novel objects sooner and longer than subadults. Females were rated as more intelligent than males, adults more intelligent than subadults, with adult females scoring highest for intelligence. Results suggest potential maternal and litter effects on personality, emphasizing the need for further research. Overall, we detected some areas to further explore and give some suggestions to enhance the application of personality research into conservation programs of this critically endangered species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106520"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143163276","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The difference in roaming behavior between owned and unowned dogs in a satoyama landscape area","authors":"Tsung-Han Kuo ,&nbsp;Gau-Ming Chang ,&nbsp;Pin-Huan Yu ,&nbsp;Wei-Hsuan Chen ,&nbsp;Shih-Ching Yen","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106521","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106521","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The One Health approach aims to achieve the joint health of humans, animals, and the environment, which will contribute to human survival and ecosystem sustainability. One of the major threats to One Health is free-roaming dogs, including owned unrestricted dogs and unowned dogs, which are common in many areas of the world and can potentially transmit diseases to humans and wildlife. Studying their roaming behavior can help evaluate the epidemic patterns of dog-caused infectious diseases. However, previous studies on roaming behavior have focused mainly on owned dogs. In this study, we aimed to examine and compare the roaming patterns of both owned and unowned dogs. We hypothesized that unowned dogs, which have no stable food sources and home to rely on, will exhibit greater roaming behavior than will owned dogs. By using a global positioning system (GPS) tracking technique, a total of 12 owned dogs and 10 unowned dogs were tracked during 2019–2021 in Yangmingshan, Taiwan, which is a satoyama landscape area. Generalized linear model analyses suggested that the most important factor influencing roaming behavior was ownership status, with unowned dogs having a 742 % larger home range size (163.3 ± 135.3 ha versus 22.0 ± 23.5 ha; mean ± SD), 867 % larger core area size (5.2 ± 5.5 ha versus 0.6 ± 0.4 ha), 5800 % farther distance from artificial environments (58 m versus 1 m; median), and a 529 % higher proportion using natural environments (68.3 ± 16.0 % versus 12.9 ± 8.8 %) than owned dogs. We found no detectable effect of sex, sterilization status, or weight. In addition, unowned dogs were closer to roads and artificial environments on weekends than on weekdays, probably due to human activities attracting them, while owned dogs did not show temporal variation in space use<strong>.</strong> Our results clearly suggest that dogs' roaming behavior is mainly affected by human factors. The range of roaming for unowned dogs was wider and more in-depth in natural environments than that for owned dogs, potentially posing greater risks to public health and wildlife conservation. Decreasing the number of unowned dogs and improving responsible ownership would be the primary management objectives in satoyama landscapes to achieve the One Health goal.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106521"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143163278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The effects of owner-cat interaction on oxytocin secretion in pet cats with different attachment styles","authors":"Hao Chang ,&nbsp;Jie Zhang ,&nbsp;Haitao Huang ,&nbsp;Edgar O. Aviles-Rosa ,&nbsp;Huiwen Huang ,&nbsp;Yan Guo ,&nbsp;Zaili Xiao ,&nbsp;Qingshen Liu ,&nbsp;Baichuan Deng ,&nbsp;Lingna Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106524","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106524","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The caretaking and interactive style of owners affect the behavioral health of pets. Research has indicated that attachment style is correlated to the social-cognitive ability and behavioral health of dogs, and oxytocin might be involved in the human-dog affiliative social interaction and emotional attachment. Studies that evaluate the relationship between attachment behavior, owner-cat interaction, and the potential roles of oxytocin are non-existent in pet cats. To address the current gap in knowledge, we recruited 30 pet cats of different attachment styles, as determined by the secure base test (SBT) and observed behaviors of the cats and owners during the free owner-cat interaction. Salivary samples were collected in cats before and after the owner-cat interactions for the detection of oxytocin. Additionally, a questionnaire was conducted to collect individual and behavior-related information of cats. Oxytocin release during free-owner-cat interaction varied in cats of different attachment styles. Oxytocin increased in securely attached cats (<em>P</em> = 0.03) whereas it tended to decrease in cats with an anxious attachment (<em>P</em> = 0.08). The baseline salivary oxytocin in cats of anxious attachment was at higher level (<em>P</em> = 0.03) than securely attached cats. Cats of different attachment styles interacted differentially with their owners (<em>P</em> = 0.02). Overall, securely attached cats initiated more interactions, showed more approach-hovering behavior and fewer escape attempts, and their owners exhibited less forced interactions in comparison with owners of insecurely attached cats. Cat approach-hovering behavior was positively correlated to an increase in oxytocin during free owner-cat interaction (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.01) and negatively correlated to the baseline oxytocin (<em>P</em> = 0.01). Cats with secure attachment style also showed fewer behavioral problems and had lower fear score (<em>P</em> &lt; 0.01) compared to insecurely attached cats. In summary, we found that cats of different attachment styles varied in their occurrence of behavioral problems, and exhibited different interactive style with owners and change of oxytocin during owner-cat interaction which is likely due to the varied basal oxytocin in cats of different attachment styles. The reason for the varied basal oxytocin levels in cats of different attachment styles requires further study. The results of the current study increased our understanding of the relationship of human-cat interaction and cat attachment behavior, and the oxytocin-related endocrinal mechanism that might be underlining the emotional connection between pet cats and owners.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106524"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Assessing the circadian rhythm of cats living in a group using accelerometers","authors":"Alia Chebly ,&nbsp;Alix Enault ,&nbsp;Leslie Moinet ,&nbsp;Thierry Bedossa ,&nbsp;Sarah Jeannin ,&nbsp;Thierry Legou","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106523","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106523","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Biological rhythms play a vital role in an organism’s survival, helping it align with environmental conditions like temperature, daylight, humidity, and available food. Research on the rhythmic behaviors of domestic cats remains sparse, and existing studies have produced varying results. This study aims to deepen our understanding of biological rhythms in domestic cats living in groups by using embedded accelerometers to track their activity patterns. Twelve cats from the AVA shelter in Cuy-Saint-Fiacre, France, wore collars with IMU sensors over a period of approximately three weeks, generating data that allowed us to quantify their activity patterns and explore their biological rhythms. Using this data, we calculated the cats' time budgets, categorizing behaviors into active and inactive states, and examined their day/night activity distribution as well as their hourly activity levels. Results showed that the cats were active 14.86 % of the day, on average, with higher activity levels during the day than at night. Moreover, a bimodal activity pattern with increased activity at the time of the caretaker's interventions at feeding time was found. These findings provide insights into the daily rhythms of domestic cats living in groups and highlight the influence of human interactions on their activity patterns.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106523"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162377","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Sensor-based activity patterns of healthy calves housed in large groups","authors":"Dengsheng Sun ,&nbsp;Gwenaël G.R. Leday ,&nbsp;P.P.J. van der Tol ,&nbsp;Laura E. Webb ,&nbsp;C.G. van Reenen","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106493","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106493","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Young calves are susceptible to disease. Studies indicate that calf activity often changes prior to a clinical diagnosis. Accelerometers can monitor activity continuously, offering an opportunity for early detection of disease in individual reared calves, based on deviation from their ‘normal’ activity patterns. This requires the prior understanding of these ‘normal’ activity patterns in healthy calves. This study aimed at describing the group activity patterns of healthy group-housed calves. Holstein and crossbred calves (n = 231; 17 ± 4 d of age at arrival) were housed in six large pens (N = 38 ± 2 calves per pen). Calves had milk replacer via automated milk feeders twice or three times daily and <em>ad libitum</em> access to solid feed. High frequency activity data were continuously recorded from 6 to 28 weeks of age using leg accelerometers. Clinical examination was performed twice per week between 8 and 25 weeks of age, whereby any symptom of disease was scored based on the severity, and summed to reach a total ‘health score’. Activity data from sick calf days between two healthy days were extrapolated to surrounding ‘none-health monitoring’ days between the corresponding two healthy days. Generalized additive models with a Gaussian response were used to estimate daily group patterns of ‘being active’ and ‘being inactive’ per week, corrected for trends over time/age. Four features were extracted from the data and used in the model based on weekly averages: number of peaks, time (of the day) at which peaks occurred, the height (i.e. absolute value) of each peak, and the proportion of the night activity. The results showed that normal activity patterns can be described using the above features. The number of peaks in activity in a day went from 4 to 3 over the fattening period, with most peaks corresponding to availability times of new milk replacer. A peak in activity was consistently observed prior to darkness. Night-time activity was consistently around 20 % between 8 and 20 weeks of age and gradually increased to 27 % between 21 and 25 weeks of age. A leave-one-out analysis showed a medium accuracy (0.646) of using the fitted model to predict activity patterns of individual calves, indicating that most calves deviate in some way from this average pattern. The next steps are to identify which factors (e.g. personality, weight) lead to individual differences between calves in terms of activity and to develop valid models to detect deviations indicative of health issues in calves.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106493"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143162658","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Grazing time of dairy cows recorded using two devices based on accelerometers","authors":"Romain Guyard,&nbsp;Rémy Delagarde","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106515","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2025.106515","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Investigating grazing behaviour of dairy cattle requires accurately recording their daily grazing time. Unfortunately, commercially available devices are often not validated for the degree of precision required in animal science at the cow × day level. In two studies, the ability of the Feed’Live® device (New Medria) to accurately estimate daily grazing time of dairy cows was investigated. It contains a triaxial accelerometer whose raw data, once processed by New Medria, provides the dominant activity for 5-min periods: intake, rumination, overactivity or other activity. Feed’Live data were compared to those from the Lifecorder Plus (Kenz) device, which contains a uniaxial accelerometer, used in the study as reference values for actual grazing time due to its known high accuracy thanks to a large external validation. Twenty four dairy cows were simultaneously equipped with both devices for several weeks in study 1 (spring 2021) and study 2 (spring 2022), for a total of 1224 cow × day datapoints. Daily access time to pasture was either 19 h/day (861 cow × day datapoints) or 7 h/day (363 cow × day datapoints) according to the experimental treatments investigated. On the whole database, compared to the Lifecorder Plus, Feed’Live underestimated daily grazing time by 15 % (65 min/day), with a lower underestimation for cows having 19 h/day of access to pasture (11 %, 48 min/day), and a greater underestimation for cows having only 7 h/day of access to pasture (31 %, 107 min/day). The bias in the estimated grazing time between the two devices was strongly and positively correlated with the time of other activity. This is because Feed’Live failed to identify grazing as the main activity during several grazing sequences and sometimes missed entire grazing sequences. Most of the grazing activity that the Feed’Live failed to detect was classified as other activity, with no misclassification as rumination. Correcting grazing time by adding other activity time to it provided a much more accurate estimate of actual grazing time, with no more bias and an average mean prediction error of only 9 % at the cow × day level vs. 23 % without correction on the entire database. For cows having access to pasture only during daytime, the mean prediction error was reduced from 40 % to 6 % thanks to this correction. For scientific purposes, when data are available, actual grazing time can thus be estimated accurately by the Feed’Live by summing the times of grazing and other activity.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106515"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143163271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Regular play opportunities during the grow-finish phase improve pig trainability and learning in a cognitive bias test","authors":"Karolína Steinerová,&nbsp;Sarah E. Parker,&nbsp;Yolande M. Seddon","doi":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106502","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106502","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Promoting play behaviour could enhance pig welfare in intensive production systems. Play is associated with positive emotions, and regular play opportunities may positively alter pigs' affective states. The affective state of pigs can be indirectly assessed through a behavioural test that determines an optimistic or pessimistic cognitive bias (CB). This study explored whether grow-finish pigs reared with intermittent play promotion over nine weeks exhibited more optimistic CB compared to conventionally-housed pigs. A subsample of 18 pigs was selected from three treatments (6 pigs/treatment): i) Control (CON), ii) Novelty (NOV), and iii) Play pen (PLP). Play was promoted 3x/week with novel objects provided either in a home pen (NOV, 1 m²/pig) or a larger playpen (PLP, 2.9 m²/pig). At 19 weeks of age, pigs were trained to approach a 'hot spot' (GO/correct) with a positive sound cue (POS) reinforced with a positive reward or avoid it (NO-GO/correct) with a negative sound cue (NEG) reinforced with a negative experience. Afterwards, all pigs' CB was assessed using an ambiguous sound cue (AMB) in two tests (CBT) and GO/optimistic and NO-GO/pessimistic responses were recorded. In training, 66 % of NOV and PLP pigs successfully trained for CBT, while 0 % of CON pigs did (p = 0.036, Fisher’s exact). During testing, the proportion of optimistic responses to the AMB cue exhibited by pigs in trained NOV and PLP treatment groups did not differ from pigs in untrained CON group in CBT 1 (p = 0.751, Kruskal-Wallis) and CBT 2 (p = 0.595). For the POS cue, the proportion of correct responses of trained NOV and PLP treatment pigs was higher compared to pigs from untrained CON group in CBT 1 (at a tendency, p = 0.075) and CBT 2 (p = 0.011). Pigs from the three treatment groups did not differ in their proportions of correct responses to the NEG cue in either CBT. The pig-level proportion of fearful/aggressive behavioural reactions to the negative experience tended to be higher in CON compared to trained and untrained play (PLY) pigs (p = 0.072, Mann-Whitney). Four PLY pigs and one CON pig showed a bold reaction to the negative experience. Results suggest that rearing pigs in a more stimulating environment with play opportunities improves trainability and learning, possibly due to reduced fear. Due to collinearity between treatment and successful training, no conclusions can be drawn about the effect of play promotion on the pigs’ affective states. Future studies should refine CBT methods to enhance understanding of the relationship between play and affective states in pigs.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":8222,"journal":{"name":"Applied Animal Behaviour Science","volume":"283 ","pages":"Article 106502"},"PeriodicalIF":2.2,"publicationDate":"2025-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143163272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}