Abstract：
Improving the housing of pregnant sows by giving them more space and access to deep straw had positive effects on their welfare, influenced their maternal behavior and improved the survival of their offspring. The present study aimed at determining whether these effects were actually due to environmental enrichment and whether the provision of straw pellets and wood can partly mimic the effects of straw bedding during gestation. Three graded levels of enrichment were used, that were, collective conventional pens on slatted floor (C, n = 26), the same pens with manipulable wood materials and distribution of straw pellets after the meals (CE, n = 30), and larger pens on deep straw litter (E, n = 27). Sows were then housed in identical farrowing crates from 105 days of gestation until weaning. Decreased stereotypies, blood neutrophils, and salivary cortisol, and increased behavioral investigation indicated that health and welfare of sows during gestation were improved in the E environment compared with the C environment. The CE sows responded as C or E sows depending on the trait. Piglet mortality rate in the first 12 h after birth was lower in E and CE litters than in C litters, but enrichment level during gestation had only small effects on lactating sow behavior and milk composition postpartum. On days 2 and 3 of lactation, E sows interrupted less often their nursing sequences than C and CE sows. On day 2, milk from both E and CE sows contained more minerals than that from C sows. In one-day-old piglets, the expression levels of genes encoding toll-like receptors (TLR2, TLR4) and cytokines (interleukin-1, -6 and -10) in whole blood after 20-h culture, were greater in E piglets than in CE or C piglets. In conclusion, housing sows in an enriched environment during gestation improved early neonatal survival, probably via moderate and cumulative positive effects on sow behavior, milk composition, and offspring innate immune response. The gradation in the effects observed in C, CE and E housing environment reinforced the hypothesis of a causal relationship between maternal environmental enrichment, sow welfare and postnatal piglet traits.
摘要：
通过给母猪更多的空间和获得深层秸秆来改善母猪的住房，对它们的福利产生了积极影响，影响了他们的母性行为，提高了后代的存活率。本研究旨在确定这些影响是否实际上是由于环境富集，以及提供秸秆颗粒和木材是否可以部分模仿妊娠期间秸秆垫层的影响。使用了三个分级的富集水平，那是，板条地板上的集体常规笔(C，n=26),同样的钢笔用可操作的木质材料和饭后分配的秸秆颗粒(CE，n=30),和更大的钢笔在深稻草垃圾(E，n=27）。然后，从妊娠105天到断奶，将母猪饲养在相同的分娩箱中。陈规定型观念减少，血液中性粒细胞，唾液皮质醇，行为调查的增加表明，与C环境相比，E环境下母猪妊娠期间的健康和福利得到了改善。CE母猪根据性状作为C或E母猪响应。出生后的头12小时内，E和CE窝的仔猪死亡率低于C窝，但是妊娠期富集水平对泌乳母猪行为和产后乳成分的影响很小。在哺乳的第2天和第3天，与C和CE母猪相比，E母猪中断护理顺序的频率较低。在第2天，来自E和CE母猪的牛奶比来自C母猪的牛奶含有更多的矿物质。在一天大的小猪中，20小时培养后全血中编码Toll样受体（TLR2，TLR4）和细胞因子（白介素-1，-6和-10）的基因的表达水平，E仔猪比CE或C仔猪更大。总之,在妊娠期间在丰富的环境中饲养母猪改善了早期新生儿存活率，可能是通过对母猪行为的中等和累积的积极影响，牛奶成分，和后代的先天免疫反应。在C中观察到的效果的等级，CE和E住房环境强化了产妇环境富集之间因果关系的假设，母猪福利和仔猪产后性状。
