The “Quality of Life” (QOL) represents a new approach that combines the traditional behavioral assessment with the evaluation of the animal’s affective states in a long observation time. Thus, the QOL could be a powerful tool to investigate how animals cope with the environment on the base of the engagement of positive behaviors. The purpose of this study was to compare the behaviors of four slow-growing chicken genotypes reared in free-range conditions by applying the QOL approach. A total of 400 one-day-old chicks belonging to different chicken genotypes (A, NN, CB and LD) were housed in 8 pens with access to pasture area. From 42 to 81 days of age 10 videos/genotype of two hours length were recorded and analyzed by two expert observers using 10-minute sampling intervals. The behavioral variables were classified into positive and negative affective states and indicators of their balance were calculated. Uni- and multivariate statistical techniques were used while the frequency of the behaviors occurrences was categorized by data binning. Results showed that in all the genotypes studied the percentage of positive affective state was higher than the negative ones. However, LD by showing the highest frequency of “sheltering” associated with the lowest frequency of “grass pecking” behavior evidenced a poor interaction with the outdoor area. Nevertheless, the highest frequency of “dust bathing” and “scratching” in the LD genotype balanced the low occurrence of other positive behaviors. Conversely, NN birds were very active and showed the highest occurrences of positive affective states. Further studies are needed to develop a strong QOL methodology to better classified the behaviors into positive and negative affective states and to find a specific indicator to evaluate their balance.
Application of Quality of Life approach to evaluate the behavior of four slow growing chicken genotypes reared in free range
Trocino A.;Ciarelli C.;
2024
Abstract
The “Quality of Life” (QOL) represents a new approach that combines the traditional behavioral assessment with the evaluation of the animal’s affective states in a long observation time. Thus, the QOL could be a powerful tool to investigate how animals cope with the environment on the base of the engagement of positive behaviors. The purpose of this study was to compare the behaviors of four slow-growing chicken genotypes reared in free-range conditions by applying the QOL approach. A total of 400 one-day-old chicks belonging to different chicken genotypes (A, NN, CB and LD) were housed in 8 pens with access to pasture area. From 42 to 81 days of age 10 videos/genotype of two hours length were recorded and analyzed by two expert observers using 10-minute sampling intervals. The behavioral variables were classified into positive and negative affective states and indicators of their balance were calculated. Uni- and multivariate statistical techniques were used while the frequency of the behaviors occurrences was categorized by data binning. Results showed that in all the genotypes studied the percentage of positive affective state was higher than the negative ones. However, LD by showing the highest frequency of “sheltering” associated with the lowest frequency of “grass pecking” behavior evidenced a poor interaction with the outdoor area. Nevertheless, the highest frequency of “dust bathing” and “scratching” in the LD genotype balanced the low occurrence of other positive behaviors. Conversely, NN birds were very active and showed the highest occurrences of positive affective states. Further studies are needed to develop a strong QOL methodology to better classified the behaviors into positive and negative affective states and to find a specific indicator to evaluate their balance.
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