The behaviour, welfare, growth performance and meat quality of pigs housed in a deep-litter, large group housing system compared to a conventional confinement system

Rebecca S. Morrison; Lee J Johnston; Adrienne M. Hilbrands

doi:10.1016/j.applanim.2006.04.002

The behaviour, welfare, growth performance and meat quality of pigs housed in a deep-litter, large group housing system compared to a conventional confinement system

Rebecca S. Morrison, Lee J Johnston, Adrienne M. Hilbrands

West Central Research and Outreach Center

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

64 Scopus citations

Abstract

The behaviour, welfare, growth performance, and meat quality of deep-litter, large group-housed pigs were compared to pigs raised in a conventional housing system. Castrated males were housed from 9 weeks of age in a conventional housing (15 pigs/pen; 1.0 m²/pig) or deep-litter, large group housing system (90 pigs/pen; 1.7 m²/pig). Behavioural observations and stress physiology measurements were conducted at 9, 17 and 22 weeks of age. The willingness of the pigs to approach a novel object was assessed using a standard novel object test at 22 weeks of age. Pigs in the deep-litter, group housing system spent more time (P < 0.05) standing, locomoting, and interacting with their environment compared with contemporaries housed in the conventional system. At 17 weeks but not at 9 or 22 weeks, pigs in the conventional housing engaged in more (P < 0.05) social interactions than deep-litter housed pigs. Salivary cortisol was higher (P < 0.05) in deep-litter pigs compared to conventional pigs at 9 weeks of age but were similar at 17 and 22 weeks of age. Pigs in the deep-litter, large group system exhibited more exploratory behaviour (P < 0.05) compared to conventionally raised pigs in the novel test. Loins from pigs housed in the deep-litter, large group treatment had lower (P < 0.01) loin pH, more (P < 0.05) purge loss, more glucose in purge (P < 0.05) and were lighter in subjective colour (P < 0.05) than loins from conventionally housed pigs. However, there were no significant differences observed in the objective colour measurements of L^*, a^* and b^*. A trained sensory panel detected no differences in tenderness, juiciness or overall desirability of loins from deep-litter or conventionally housed pigs. In this experiment, housing system modified pig behaviour, fearfulness and stress physiology (at 9 weeks of age) but these differences did not negatively impact meat quality.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	12-24
Number of pages	13
Journal	Applied Animal Behaviour Science
Volume	103
Issue number	1-2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2006.04.002
State	Published - Mar 2007

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We wish to acknowledge the financial support from the Minnesota Pork Producers Association, North Mankato, MN and Hormel Foods, Austin, MN, USA. Furthermore, the technical support of the staff at the University of Minnesota's, West Central Research and Outreach Center is greatly appreciated.

Copyright:
Copyright 2008 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

Deep-litter
Fearfulness
Large groups
Meat quality
Pig-social behaviour

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The behaviour, welfare, growth performance and meat quality of pigs housed in a deep-litter, large group housing system compared to a conventional confinement system. / Morrison, Rebecca S.; Johnston, Lee J ; Hilbrands, Adrienne M.
In: Applied Animal Behaviour Science, Vol. 103, No. 1-2, 03.2007, p. 12-24.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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abstract = "The behaviour, welfare, growth performance, and meat quality of deep-litter, large group-housed pigs were compared to pigs raised in a conventional housing system. Castrated males were housed from 9 weeks of age in a conventional housing (15 pigs/pen; 1.0 m2/pig) or deep-litter, large group housing system (90 pigs/pen; 1.7 m2/pig). Behavioural observations and stress physiology measurements were conducted at 9, 17 and 22 weeks of age. The willingness of the pigs to approach a novel object was assessed using a standard novel object test at 22 weeks of age. Pigs in the deep-litter, group housing system spent more time (P < 0.05) standing, locomoting, and interacting with their environment compared with contemporaries housed in the conventional system. At 17 weeks but not at 9 or 22 weeks, pigs in the conventional housing engaged in more (P < 0.05) social interactions than deep-litter housed pigs. Salivary cortisol was higher (P < 0.05) in deep-litter pigs compared to conventional pigs at 9 weeks of age but were similar at 17 and 22 weeks of age. Pigs in the deep-litter, large group system exhibited more exploratory behaviour (P < 0.05) compared to conventionally raised pigs in the novel test. Loins from pigs housed in the deep-litter, large group treatment had lower (P < 0.01) loin pH, more (P < 0.05) purge loss, more glucose in purge (P < 0.05) and were lighter in subjective colour (P < 0.05) than loins from conventionally housed pigs. However, there were no significant differences observed in the objective colour measurements of L*, a* and b*. A trained sensory panel detected no differences in tenderness, juiciness or overall desirability of loins from deep-litter or conventionally housed pigs. In this experiment, housing system modified pig behaviour, fearfulness and stress physiology (at 9 weeks of age) but these differences did not negatively impact meat quality.",

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The behaviour, welfare, growth performance and meat quality of pigs housed in a deep-litter, large group housing system compared to a conventional confinement system

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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