Enriquecimento ambiental para suínos: efeito da aromaterapia em matrizes na fase de gestação

Abstract

The first week of grouping pig sows during the gestational period is a critical period when it comes to animal welfare. Several animals from different batches are allocated together, a process that can generate stress, fights and aggression aimed at establishing hierarchy within the group. To minimize the effect of social stress due to the grouping of these females, environmental enrichment techniques can be adopted with the aim of making the environment more attractive and improving animal welfare. Aromatherapy is an approach that has stood out as a form of enrichment, as the use of essential oils (EO) stimulates the olfactory sensory sense of pigs. Chamomile essential oil has several therapeutic effects that can support the relaxation process and consequently animal well-being. This work was developed in a weaned piglet production unit in the city of Itapiranga - SC, evaluating the effect of environmental enrichment and aromatherapy in the first week of grouping sows during the gestational period. To this end, three treatments were used: CONTR: control, ENR: use of environmental enrichment objects and ENR_ARO: use of environmental enrichment objects associated with the use of chamomile essential oil. It was possible to evaluate, through an ethogram, the behavior of 54 swine sows, of the same genetic lineage, divided into 3 pens, with 18 animals in each. The treatments were conducted for seven days and data collection was carried out on days 1, 3, 5 and 7 of accommodation, for 5 minutes. Seven repetitions were collected per day at 7:00, 9:00, 11:00, 13:00, 15:00, 17:00 and 19:00 hours, through the observation of an evaluator. These data were analyzed using the Tukey test at 5% significance, using the R software, evaluating the effect of the treatments. The use of environmental enrichment objects allowed the animals to express their natural and playful behaviors, promoting a favorable state of well-being during batch grouping at 35 days of gestation. The use of chamomile essential oil resulted in a decrease in stereotyping and negative behaviors over time.