Study of the interactions between health and welfare of pigs with access to an outdoor range

Context and challenges

The world of animal breeding is experiencing a crisis of acceptability on the part of consumers that has as much to do with animal welfare as environmental issues. These issues pertain particularly to the pork sector since most French pigs are raised on slatted floors and the sector ranks second in the use of antibiotics. In response to these questions, PANORAMA, an emblematic project of the 2021-2025 Metaprogramme SANBA, is launching an open innovation process to produce operational knowledge to foster the emergence of breakthrough breeding practices and systems that give animals access to the outdoors and guarantee their health and well-being throughout their lives.

Objectives

The aim of this dissertation, which is part of the PANORAMA project, is to better understand the links between the health and well-being of pigs raised in farm systems with access to the outdoors and that allow the animals to better express their natural behaviours.
In this context, the project proposes to question the welfare and health of pigs in two situations: (i) on the one hand, on commercial farms that offer innovative animal management strategies in order to understand the factors that influence the relationship between behaviour, health and the performance of individuals; and (ii) on the other hand, in experimental systems that allow for more detailed measurements of behaviour (ethological approach: emotional state, cognition, human-animal relationship) and physiological parameters
(immune competence, energy metabolism, inflammatory status) of individuals to understand the cellular and molecular mechanisms that come into play in the trade-offs/synergies between health and well-being.

Species concerned

Partnerships

• Joint research unit PEGASE, PHASE division: ethology, nutrition, endocrinology.
• USC IECM, SA division: immuno-endocrinology, physiology, biotechnology.
• Multi-disciplinary team “PANORAMA”, project led by Laurence Lamothe (joint research unit GENPHYSE, PHASE division)
• External partners: Joint research unit BIOEPAR, UE GENESI.