Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell'Umbria e delle Marche ''Togo Rosati''

Authors    Capoferri R, Parati K, Puglisi R, Moscati L, Sensi M, Lombardi G, Sandri G, Briani C, Galli A

Abstract   Single- and group-housed pregnant sows were assessed during 8 weeks (4th and 8th to 14th) with regard to physiological, reproductive, welfare indicators and gene expression profiling. Compared to single-housed sows, group-housed sows had decreased non-return to estrus at 56 days after artificial insemination (AI) (83% vs 92%) and farrowing rate (78% vs 88%), respectively. Furthermore, group-housed sows showed a higher degree (p < 0.01) of advantageous physiological indicators, such as albumin (odds ratio [OR] = 4.4), alkaline phosphatase (OR = 1.5), bactericidal (OR = 3.2) and complement (OR = 24.3), and disadvantageous for alanine amino transferase (OR = 0.5), bilirubin (OR = 0.4), lysozyme (OR = 0.3) and C-reactive protein compared to single-housed. Eighty-seven genes related to immune response were underexpressed (log fold change ≤ 1.5; p < 0.05) during the 8th to 14th weeks in the group compared to single-housed sows, which in turn showed an immunomodulatory reduction on the expression of 43 genes during the 11th to 14th compared to the 4th week. Overall, the results were interpreted as indicative of greater comfort state of the group compared to single-housed sows.

Publish Date  2021

Volume     24 (3)

ISSN         1532-7604

DOI           doi.org/10.1080/10888705.2020.1790369

URL           https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10888705.2020.1790369

Journal     Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science

Pages       246-259

PMID        32894989