POSTER PRESENTATIONS Animal Behavior and Well-Being: Swine and Poultry

Pigs have a very developed olfactory system that allows them to recognize cues from the environment within the first days after farrowing. Amniotic fluid is a cue that piglets use to recognize their own mother and guide them to this key resource post-natally. The aim of this study was to estimate if sucking piglets of different ages have the ability to discriminate between their own mother’s amniotic fluids versus an alien one. Forty male/female pigs from 10 litters (4 piglets/litter) were used to test their attraction for 3 olfactory stimuli (triple-choice feeding test) using a Triple-U-Testing Arena (TUTA), located in an isolated room on d 4, 14 and 21 after farrowing. Olfactory tested cues included strips impregnated with their own maternal amniotic fluid (MAF), alien amniotic fluid (AAF) and water in the middle as a control. The position of MAF and AAF were rotated in each test. Piglets were tested in litter-pairs to avoid fear and distractive behaviors. Each test lasted 7 min, during which, the time spent by piglets in nasal contact with each strip was measured by direct observation. Data were analyzed using the GLM procedure of SAS. Latency time accounted to more than 6 min of the 7 min test. Older piglets became increasingly agitated, looking for alternative routes to escape and they also had more play and exploring behaviors at the TUTA. Piglets showed preferential responses toward MAF at d 4 (10.32 s/couple) and 14 (2.57 s/couple) as compared with AAF (4.75, P < 0.01 and 0.98, P < 0.05 s/couple) and water (0, P < 0.01 and 0.54, P < 0.01 s/couple). No differences were observed at d 21. These results show that piglets are able to discriminate between their mother′s amniotic fluid and amniotic fluid from other sows during their first weeks of life. This attraction might keep piglets protected near to the sow and also teach them to follow cues of maternal pregnancy feeding. Attraction for amniotic fluid begins to disappear as piglet needs and motivation changes with age.