Special Issue "Positive Welfare Indicators for On-Farm Welfare Assessment"

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Animal Welfare".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Martina Tarantola
E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Veterinary Science, University of Turin, L.go Braccini, 2, 10095 Grugliasco (TO), Italy
Interests: animal welfare

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

There is growing evidence that good welfare is more than just the absence of states of suffering. Whereas most approaches to welfare assessment are based on indicators of reduced welfare, it seems promising to put more emphasis on indicators of good welfare in the future. To date, little effort has gone into the study of animal pleasure or in developing measures of pleasure in animals. Currently, there is no clear or agreed consensus within the literature on what positive welfare should entail or what makes a valid or reliable indicator of positive animal welfare.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present recent research and reviews on meaningful and practical positive welfare indicators for on-farm welfare assessment, such as affiliative behaviour, maternal care, play activity, as well as some blood parameters, e.g. dopamine, oxytocin and serotonin, to help animals to have lives worth living.

Dr. Martina Tarantola
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All papers will be peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • farm animal welfare
  • positive welfare indicators
  • positive subjective feelings
  • on-farm positive welfare assessment
  • animal pleasure
  • quality of life

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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Article
Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs
Animals 2021, 11(7), 2054; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11072054 - 09 Jul 2021
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Abstract
The ability to assess the welfare of animals is dependent on our ability to accurately determine their emotional (affective) state, with particular emphasis being placed on the identification of positive emotions. The challenge remains that current physiological and behavioral indices are either unable [...] Read more.
The ability to assess the welfare of animals is dependent on our ability to accurately determine their emotional (affective) state, with particular emphasis being placed on the identification of positive emotions. The challenge remains that current physiological and behavioral indices are either unable to distinguish between positive and negative emotional states, or they are simply not suitable for a production environment. Therefore, the development of novel measures of animal emotion is a necessity. Here we investigated the efficacy of microRNA (miRNA) in the brain and blood as biomarkers of emotional state in the pig. Female Large White × Landrace pigs (n = 24) were selected at weaning and trained to perform a judgment bias test (JBT), before being exposed for 5 weeks to either enriched (n = 12) or barren housing (n = 12) conditions. Pigs were tested on the JBT once prior to treatment, and immediately following treatment. MiRNA and neurotransmitters were analyzed in blood and brain tissue after euthanasia. Treatment had no effect on the outcomes of the JBT. There was also no effect of treatment on miRNA expression in blood or the brain (FDR p > 0.05). However, pigs exposed to enriched housing had elevated dopamine within the striatum compared to pigs in barren housing (p = 0.02). The results imply that either (a) miRNAs are not likely to be valid biomarkers of a positive affective state, at least under the type of conditions employed in this study, or (b) that the study design used to modify affective state was not able to create differential affective states, and therefore establish the validity of miRNA as biomarkers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Positive Welfare Indicators for On-Farm Welfare Assessment)
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Article
Evaluation of Inter-Observer Reliability of Animal Welfare Indicators: Which Is the Best Index to Use?
Animals 2021, 11(5), 1445; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051445 - 18 May 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 605
Abstract
This study focuses on the problem of assessing inter-observer reliability (IOR) in the case of dichotomous categorical animal-based welfare indicators and the presence of two observers. Based on observations obtained from Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project surveys conducted on nine dairy goat farms, [...] Read more.
This study focuses on the problem of assessing inter-observer reliability (IOR) in the case of dichotomous categorical animal-based welfare indicators and the presence of two observers. Based on observations obtained from Animal Welfare Indicators (AWIN) project surveys conducted on nine dairy goat farms, and using udder asymmetry as an indicator, we compared the performance of the most popular agreement indexes available in the literature: Scott’s π, Cohen’s k, kPABAK, Holsti’s H, Krippendorff’s α, Hubert’s Γ, Janson and Vegelius’ J, Bangdiwala’s B, Andrés and Marzo’s , and Gwet’s γ(AC1). Confidence intervals were calculated using closed formulas of variance estimates for π, k, kPABAK, H, α, Γ, J, , and γ(AC1), while the bootstrap and exact bootstrap methods were used for all the indexes. All the indexes and closed formulas of variance estimates were calculated using Microsoft Excel. The bootstrap method was performed with R software, while the exact bootstrap method was performed with SAS software. k, π, and α exhibited a paradoxical behavior, showing unacceptably low values even in the presence of very high concordance rates. B and γ(AC1) showed values very close to the concordance rate, independently of its value. Both bootstrap and exact bootstrap methods turned out to be simpler compared to the implementation of closed variance formulas and provided effective confidence intervals for all the considered indexes. The best approach for measuring IOR in these cases is the use of B or γ(AC1), with bootstrap or exact bootstrap methods for confidence interval calculation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Positive Welfare Indicators for On-Farm Welfare Assessment)
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Article
Time-Budget of Horses Reared for Meat Production: Influence of Stocking Density on Behavioural Activities and Subsequent Welfare
Animals 2020, 10(8), 1334; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani10081334 - 01 Aug 2020
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1158
Abstract
Horses reared for meat production can be kept in intensive breeding farms where they are housed in group pens at high stocking densities. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the expressed behaviours correlated with stocking density, and to compare their time-budget with [...] Read more.
Horses reared for meat production can be kept in intensive breeding farms where they are housed in group pens at high stocking densities. The present study aimed to evaluate whether the expressed behaviours correlated with stocking density, and to compare their time-budget with that of wild-living horses. An ethogram of 13 mutually exclusive behavioural activities was developed. Behavioural observations were performed over a 72 h period on group pens selected on the basis of stocking density and the homogeneity of breed, age, height at the withers, and time since arriving at the farm. Scan sampling (n = 96 scans/horse/day) was used on 22 horses. The mean frequency (%) ± standard deviation (±SD) for each behavioural activity was calculated to obtain the time-budget. The associations between time-budget and stocking density were evaluated using a bivariate analysis. The relationships were analysed by Pearson’s correlation coefficient (r). Our results show that locomotion, playing, and self-grooming positively correlated with a reduction in stocking density, indicating the potential to use these behaviours as positive welfare indicators for young horses kept in group pens. The data also revealed an unusual time-budget, where the main behavioural activity expressed was standing (30.56% ± 6.56%), followed by feeding (30.55% ± 3.59%), lying (27.33% ± 2.05%), and locomotion (4.07% ± 1.06%). Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Positive Welfare Indicators for On-Farm Welfare Assessment)
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Review

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Review
Enhanced Understanding of Horse–Human Interactions to Optimize Welfare
Animals 2021, 11(5), 1347; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11051347 - 09 May 2021
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1938
Abstract
Horses (Equus caballus) have been domesticated for millennia and are regularly utilized for work, sport, and companionship. Enhanced understanding of human–horse interactions can create avenues to optimize their welfare. This review explores the current research surrounding many aspects of human–horse interactions [...] Read more.
Horses (Equus caballus) have been domesticated for millennia and are regularly utilized for work, sport, and companionship. Enhanced understanding of human–horse interactions can create avenues to optimize their welfare. This review explores the current research surrounding many aspects of human–horse interactions by first highlighting the horse’s sensory capabilities and how they pertain to human interactions. Evidence exists that suggests that horses can read humans in various ways through our body odours, posture, facial expressions, and attentiveness. The literature also suggests that horses are capable of remembering previous experiences when working with humans. The interrelatedness of equine cognition and affective states within the horse’s umwelt is then explored. From there, equine personality and the current literature regarding emotional transfer between humans and horses is examined. Even though horses may be capable of recognizing emotional states in humans, there remains a gap in the literature of whether horses are capable of empathizing with human emotion. The objective of this literature review is to explore aspects of the relationship between humans and horses to better understand the horse’s umwelt and thereby shed new light on potential positive approaches to enhance equine welfare with humans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Positive Welfare Indicators for On-Farm Welfare Assessment)
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