Reliability of temperament tests on finishing pigs in group-housing and comparison to social tests

Brown, Jennifer A.; Dewey, Cate; Delange, Cornelius F.M.; Mandell, I. B.; Purslow, Peter P.; Robinson, J. A. B.; Squires, E. J.; Widowski, Tina M.

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2009.02.005

Cited by 50 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…This is similar to previous studies, where correlations were found between tests with similar stimuli (Janczak et al, 2003b;Lawrence et al, 1991;Spoolder et al, 1996). By contrast, a study of finisher pigs found consistency in response to different test types as well as over time (Brown et al, 2009) and prepubertal gilts showed a general reaction pattern across different non-social situations (Thodberg et al, 1999). In other situations, male and female growing pigs showed consistency in aggression and mounting behaviour (Clark and D'Eath, 2013) and at farrowing 14% of sows that savaged as gilts, savaged on the second parity, compared with only 0.8% of sows, which did not savage as gilts .…”

Section: Behavioural Testssupporting

confidence: 78%

“…Gilts interacted with the novel object longer during the first stable group novel object test, compared to the remaining two tests, which is unsurprising given that the novel object was different for the stable group tests. As in this study, a previous study in which pigs underwent several behavioural tests also showed a habituation effect, as latency to contact decreased with subsequent tests (Brown et al, 2009). Some consistency in behaviour was shown between individual and stable group human interaction tests.…”

Section: Behavioural Testssupporting

confidence: 64%

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Behaviour of pre-pubertal gilts and its relationship to farrowing behaviour in conventional farrowing crates and loose-housed pens

Ison

Wood

Baxter

2015

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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Section: Behavioural Testssupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Behavioural Testssupporting

confidence: 64%

Behaviour of pre-pubertal gilts and its relationship to farrowing behaviour in conventional farrowing crates and loose-housed pens

Ison

Wood

Baxter

2015

Applied Animal Behaviour Science

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“…They reported that sows which displayed stronger aggressive reaction toward stockperson when their piglets were handled were scored to have greater lesions on their posterior region when moved to farrowing. To the contrary, Brown et al (2009) failed to report a significant relationship between approach latency and lesion severity. However in this study pig-initiated human contact, rather than human-initiation, was observed.…”

Section: Personality Traits In Gestating Sowsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Temporal stability of personality traits in group-housed gestating sows

Horback

Parsons

2016

Animal

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The movement of sows (Sus scrofa domesticus) out of individual gestation stalls and into group housing can introduce new sources of stress due to the enhanced environmental and social complexity. Some sows may have the behavioral capacity to adapt to these changes better than others. However, little is known about individual differences in behavioral responses, or personality traits, in gestating sows and how they impact the animal's ability to cope with group housing. The temporal consistency in the assessment of an animal's behavior is a prerequisite to the establishment of personality traits and was addressed at an interval of approximately five months during two consecutive gestation periods in the present study. Forty-six group-housed sows from a commercially available genetic line were assessed for aggressive and social behaviors at mixing into a group, reaction to human approach, ease of handling, exploration of an open field, and reaction to a novel object. Principal component analysis revealed the presence of three traits accounting for over 60% of the variance in behaviors: aggressive/dominant, avoidant of humans and active/exploratory. Individual component scores were significantly correlated between pregnancies demonstrating temporal stability of trait assessment. Significant relationships were found between aggressive/dominant component scores and individual feed rank at electronic sow feeding stations and skin lesion scores, as well as between avoidant of humans component scores and average number of stillbirths per litter. These findings provide evidence for the temporal stability of distinct behaviors contributing to personality traits within a group of genetically similar sows and demonstrate how these traits may be useful in identifying individuals likely to succeed in group housing.Keywords: sow, group-housed, gestation, behavior, personality ImplicationsDue to both legislative and market driven initiatives, swine farmers have been asked to transition their sows from individual gestation stalls to group pens. These housing systems introduce increased complexity of environmental and social stimuli. A better understanding of the variation in individual behavior of gestating sows and its consequences can inform pork producers on how best to manage sows at an individual level in group housing. IntroductionDetermining differences in personality traits for livestock may help to identify certain individuals which possess an increased ability to cope with environmental and/or social stressors (Gosling, 2001;Bolhuis et al., 2003). For example, personality differences have been shown to be significantly related to immunity function and stress response (Segerstrom, 2000;Koolhaas, 2008). Therefore, personality assessment of gestating sows may help in identifying individuals better able to cope with the enhanced environmental and social complexities associated with the transition from stall to group housing. Both legislative initiatives (EU Council Directive 2008/120/EC) and market forces (Matthews and Hem...

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“…Smith & MacKenzie 2006, Boersma et al 2011, animal welfare issues (e.g. Huntingford & Adams 2005, Brown et al 2009, Weiss et al 2011 and conservation (e.g. Conrad et al 2011, Vegvari et al 2011, Gherardi et al 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Covariation between behaviour and physiology indicators of coping style in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

Tudorache¹,

Schaaf²,

Slabbekoorn³

2013

Journal of Endocrinology

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All vertebrates exhibit physiological responses to a wide variety of stressors. The amplitude and profile of the response depend on the intensity, duration, controllability and predictability of the stressor, but there is also individual variation in the response, termed coping style. A better understanding of the expression of coping styles is of great value for medical applications, animal welfare issues and conservation. Here, we investigated the effect of repeated netting stress on proactive and reactive zebrafish (Danio rerio) as an upcoming model system for stress research. Fish were separated by coping styles according to the order of entering a novel environment. Subsequently, repeated netting stress was applied as stressor, over a period of 21 days. Full-body cortisol levels were determined at 0, 15, 30, 60 and 120 min after the last repeated stress event. Our results show that reactive fish display i) increased basal cortisol concentrations after being repeatedly stressed, ii) higher cortisol secretion over time and iii) slow recovery of cortisol concentration towards basal levels after the last repeated stress event. This study shows for the first time in zebrafish that different coping styles are associated with different cortisol responses during the recovery from stress over time and that coping styles can explain otherwise unaccounted variation in physiological stress responses.

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Reliability of temperament tests on finishing pigs in group-housing and comparison to social tests

Cited by 50 publications

References 37 publications

Behaviour of pre-pubertal gilts and its relationship to farrowing behaviour in conventional farrowing crates and loose-housed pens

Behaviour of pre-pubertal gilts and its relationship to farrowing behaviour in conventional farrowing crates and loose-housed pens

Temporal stability of personality traits in group-housed gestating sows

Covariation between behaviour and physiology indicators of coping style in zebrafish (Danio rerio)

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