Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-25T20:25:27.774Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

No apparent effect of an experimental narrow confinement on heart activity and cortisol in domestic pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2010

S. Jaskulke  and
G. Manteuffel
S. Jaskulke
Affiliation:
Behavioural Physiology Unit, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, Wilhelm-Stahl-Allee 2, 18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
G. Manteuffel*
Affiliation:
Behavioural Physiology Unit, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, Wilhelm-Stahl-Allee 2, 18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
*
†E-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The effects of continuing spatial restraint were examined in domestic pigs. For this purpose, the animals (German Landrace barrows) were housed individually in metabolic cages (12 animals) and, as controls, in single pens (six animals). In six replications with two experimental animals and one control animal, we collected saliva each morning (0730 h) for the cortisol analysis, recorded the behaviour and the heart beat for 3 h/day (0800 to 0900 h, 1100 to 1200 h, 1400 to 1500 h). Each replication consisted of 5 days of habituation to single housing and 8 experimental days during which the experimental animals lived continuously in the metabolic cages. Weight gain, cortisol, heart rate and heart rate variability were not significantly affected by experimental narrow confinement that only had a significant influence on the behaviours, locomotion and sitting. In conclusion, the experimental animals adapted very fast and did not show physiological indications of chronic stress. However, the absence of apparent stress does not exclude other, subtler, welfare impairments.

Keywords

pigrestraintheart rate variabilitybehaviourcortisol
Type
Full Paper
Information
animal , Volume 5 , Issue 3 , March 2011 , pp. 433 - 438
Copyright
Copyright © The Animal Consortium 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albarella, U 2007. Pigs and humans: 10,000 years of interaction. Oxford University Press, New York, USA.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arellano, PE, Pijoan, C, Jacobson, LD, Algers, B 1992. Stereotyped behavior, social interactions and suckling pattern of pigs housed in groups or in single crates. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 35, 157–165.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beattie, VE, O’Conell, NE, Kilpatrick, DJ, Moss, BW 2000. Influence of environmental enrichment on welfare-related behavioural and physiological parameters in growing pigs. Animal Science 70, 443–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buynitsky, T, Mostofsky, DI 2009. Restraint stress in biobehavioral research: recent developments. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews 33, 1089–1098.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Camm, AJ, Malik, M, Bigger, JT, Breithardt, G, Cerutti, S, Cohen, RJ, Coumel, P, Fallen, EL, Kennedy, HL, Kleiger, RE, Lombardi, F, Malliani, A, Moss, AJ, Rottman, JN, Schmidt, G, Schwartz, PJ, Singer, D 1996. Heart rate variability – Standards of measurement, physiological interpretation and clinical use. Circulation 93, 1043–1063.Google Scholar
Desire, L, Veissier, I, Despres, G, Boissy, A 2004. On the way to assess emotions in animals: do lambs (Ovis aries) evaluate an event through its suddenness, novelty, or unpredictability? Journal of Comparative Psychology 118, 363–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Després, G, Veissier, I, Boissy, A 2002. Effect of autonomic blockers on heart period variability in calves: evaluation of the sympatho-vagal balance. Physiological Research 51, 347–353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ekkel, ED, Savenije, B, Schouten, WG, Wiegant, VM, Tielen, MJ 1997. The effects of mixing on behavior and circadian parameters of salivary cortisol in pigs. Physiology & Behavior 62, 181–184.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ernst, K, Tuchscherer, M, Kanitz, E, Puppe, B, Manteuffel, G 2006. Effects of attention and rewarded activity on immune parameters and wound healing in pigs. Physiology & Behavior 89, 448–456.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friedman, BH, Thayer, JF 1998. Anxiety and autonomic flexibility: a cardiovascular approach. Biological Psychology 47, 243–263.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Friend, TH, Dellmeier, GR, Gbur, EE 1985. Comparison of four methods of calf confinement. Journal of Animal Science 60, 1102–1109.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jensen, KH, Pedersen, LJ, Nielsen, EK, Heller, KH, Ladewig, J, Jorgensen, E 1996. Intermittent stress in pigs: effects on behavior, pituitary–adrenocortical axis, growth, and gastric ulceration. Physiology & Behavior 59, 741–748.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Langbein, J, Nurnberg, G, Manteuffel, G 2003. Telemetric measurement of heart rate and heart rate variability for evaluating psychological stress induced by visual discrimination learning in dwarf goats. In Precision Livestock Farming (ed. S Cox), pp. 105–111. Acad. Publishers, Wageninge, NL.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Langbein, J, Nurnberg, G, Manteuffel, G 2004. Visual discrimination learning in dwarf goats and associated changes in heart rate and heart rate variability. Physiology & Behavior 82, 601–609.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marchant-Forde, RM, Marlin, DJ, Marchant-Forde, JN 2004. Validation of a cardiac monitor for measuring heart rate variability in adult female pigs: accuracy, artefacts and editing. Physiology & Behavior 80, 449–458.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mohr, E, Langbein, J, Nürnberg, G 2002. Heart rate variability: a noninvasive approach to measure stress in calves and cows. Physiology & Behavior 75, 251–259.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mormède, P, Andanson, S, Aupérin, B, Beerda, B, Guémené, D, Malmkvist, J, Manteca, X, Manteuffel, G, Prunet, P, van Reenen, CG, Richard, S, Veissier, I 2007. Exploration of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal function as a tool to evaluate animal welfare. Physiology & Behavior 92, 317–339.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Otten, W, Kanitz, E, Couret, D, Veissier, I, Prunier, A, Merlot, E 2010. Maternal social stress during late pregnancy affects hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal function and brain neurotransmitter systems in pig offspring. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 38, 146–156.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porges, SW 1995a. Cardiac vagal tone: a physiological index of stress. Neuroscience Biobehavioral Reviews 19, 225–234.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porges, SW 1995b. Orienting in a defensive world – mammalian modifications of our evolutionary heritage – A Polyvagal theory. Psychophysiology 32, 301–318.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, A, Biau, S, Möstl, E, Becker-Birck, M, Morillon, B, Aurich, J, Faure, J-M, Aurich, C 2010. Changes in the cortisol release and heart rate variability in sport horses during long-distance road transport. Domestic Animal Endocrinology 38, 179–189.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Selye, H 1973. The evolution of the stress concept. Animal Science 61, 692–699.Google ScholarPubMed
Siard, N, Kovac, M, Ladewig, J, Stuhec, I 2003. Relationship between MHS status and plasma cortisol concentrations in individually confined pigs. Czech Journal of Animal Science 48, 265–270.Google Scholar
Siard, N, Stuhec, I 2003. MHS status and salivary cortisol concentration in individually housed pigs. Acta agriculturae Slovenica 88, 29–36.Google Scholar
Signoret, J 1969. Das Verhalten von Schweinen. In Porzig: Das Verhalten landwirtschaftlicher Nutztiere, pp. 264–330. VEB Deutscher Landwirtschaftsverlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Sorrells, AD, Eicher, SD, Harris, MJ, Pajor, EA, Richert, BT 2007. Periparturient cortisol, acute phase cytokine, and acute protein profiles of gilts housed in groups or stalls during gestation. Journal of Animal Science 85, 1750–1757.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Veissier, I, Boissy, A 2007. Stress and welfare: two complementary concepts that are intrinsically related to the animal’s point of view. Physiology & Behavior 92, 429–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Borell, E, Langbein, J, Despres, G, Hansen, S, Leterrier, C, Marchant-Forde, J, Minero, M, Mohr, E, Prunier, A, Valance, D, Veissier, I 2007. Heart rate variability as a measure of autonomic regulation of cardiac activity for assessing stress and welfare in farm animals – a review. Physiology & Behavior 92, 293–316.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Zebunke, M, Puppe, B, Langbein, J, Manteuffel, G 2008. Lernverhalten und affektive Reaktionen von Schweinen bei Fütterung mittels eines akustisch-aufrufenden, automatischen Fütterungssystems. KTBL-Schrift 471, 37–46.Google Scholar