Effect of environmental enrichment on behaviour, growth and meat quality in the domestic pig

Extract

Pigs in a semi-natural environment can spend up to one third of daylight hours in exploratory behaviour (Stolba & Wood-Gush, 1981). It has been suggested that the need for exploration in pigs is as necessary as feeding or sexual behaviour which are generally regarded as endogenous (Van Putten, 1989).

This study investigated the effect of enriching the pig's environment on behaviour, growth and meat quality.

In a comparative study using 6 groups each of 6 littermates, 3 groups were allocated at birth to an intensive housing system classified as the “barren” (B) environment and 3 groups to an “enriched” (E) environment. The enriched environment had four times more floor space per animal than the barren environment and allowed access to substrates such as peat, straw and shredded paper. Pigs were weaned at 6 weeks of age and pen size was increased at 6 and 12 weeks of age on both treatments. In both environments the pigs were fed ad libitum and had a continuous water supply. The behaviour of 2 focal animals in each group was observed for 10 minutes twice weekly between 1300 and 1800 hours throughout the 18 week life span of the animals. At 6 week intervals 24 hour time lapse video recordings were made to examine overall activity patterns.