Swine in fattening phase on enriched environment

• Autor(a) principal: Parreira, Daniela Paulino
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Valentim, Jean Kaique, Geraldo, Adriano, Faria, Sandra Regina, Medeiros, Silvana Lúcia dos Santos, Mendes, Janaína Palermo, Silva, Ariadne Freitas, Pietramale, Rita Therezinha Rolim
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Caderno de Ciências Agrárias (Online)
• Texto Completo: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/ccaufmg/article/view/32720
• topic: Animal welfare; Environmental enrichment; Fattening pig; Bem-estar animal; Engorda de leitões; Enriquecimento ambiental

The purpose of this research was to evaluate the behavior of pigs in the finishing phase considering the introduction of a toy in the installation as a form of environmental enrichment. We used 26 pigs of the lineage Agroceres, distributed in a completely randomized design, in two treatments, T1: Control without environmental enrichment and T2: enriched environment, using tires, with 13 replications each.  The animal was evaluated individually, being considered, therefore, an experimental repetition. The behavior of pigs was observed according to the methodology by instantaneous focal sampling, three times a day, for 1 hour in each observation, for ten consecutive days. The SISVAR statistical program was used to apply the probability F test to compare the behaviors among the treatments. The animals on enriched environmental treatment spent about 16% of the time interacting with the tire, and less time interacting with the water blade (P < 0.05) and in contrast, animals in the control group had a higher frequency of playful behaviors, playing some with the others. The use of tires in pigs’ stalls in the finishing phase can be used as a form of environmental enrichment, providing a more comfortable and dynamic environment for these confined animals.