INFLUENCE OF ENVIRONMENTAL STIMULI ON MATERNAL-BEHAVIOR RELATED TO BONDING, REACTIVITY AND CRUSHING OF PIGLETS IN DOMESTIC SOWS

The influence of environmental stimuli considered biologically relevan t for nest building and lactating sows, on maternal behaviour was inve stigated. Effects of floor type (sand vs, concrete) acid substrate typ e (straw feeder vs. no straw feeder) were examined in a 2 x 2 factoria l experiment with nine replicates of four multiparous sows. From one w eek prepartum until 13-15 days postpartum, sows were kept individually in roofed 7.6 m(2) 'get-away pens'. Video recordings of sow and pigle t behaviour in the nest area were made for 24 h on Days 0, 3, 6 and 12 postpartum. A lower proportion of sows with access to either sand, st raw or both stimuli crushed piglets by rolling on Day 3, than sows on concrete floors (11% vs. 60%; P < 0.05). On Day 0, a lower frequency o f postural changes was found for experienced sows (parity 4-5) on sand vs. concrete floors (1.01 +/- 0.19 vs. 2.01 +/- 0.32, respectively; F -2,F-14 = 4.85, P < 0.03) and with vs. without straw feeder (1.05 +/- 0.18 vs. 1.95 +/- 0 31, respectively; F-2,F-14 = 3.96, P < 0.05). Furt hermore, on Days 1-3 postpartum, a higher proportion of sows with acce ss to both stimuli responded by standing up during the playback of a p iglet distress call (100% vs. 54%; P < 0.02). The general decrease in time spent inside the nest area from Days 0-12 (99.0 +/- 0.3% to 90.0 +/- 1.8%; P < 0.001), tended to be less for sows on sand than sows on concrete floors (F-1,F-21 = 4.19, P < 0.053). On Days 13-15 postpartum , the latency to recognition of their own piglets during separation fr om the litter was shorter for sows with access to environmental stimul i than for sows on concrete floors (> 180 s vs. < 136 s, respectively; chi(2) = 4.06, P < 0.05). The results suggest that provision of envir onmental stimuli considered relevant for nest-building affect the mate rnal behaviour of domestic sows and favour survival of the piglets. Ma ternal bonding and maternal responsiveness might be increased due to i ncreased comfort of the sow, the physical properties of the environmen tal stimuli or increased relevance of feedback from the environment ei ther pre- or postpartum. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights res erved.