The correlation between thermal and noxious gas environments, pig productivity and behavioral responses of growing pigs

Abstract

Correlations between environmental parameters (thermal range and noxious gas levels) and the status (productivity, physiological, and behavioral) of growing pigs were examined for the benefit of pig welfare and precision farming. The livestock experiment was conducted at a Seoul National University station in South Korea. Many variations were applied and the physiological and behavioral responses of the growing pigs were closely observed. Thermal and gas environment parameters were different during the summer and winter seasons, and the environments in the treatments were controlled in different manners. In the end, this study finds that factors such as Average Daily Gain (ADG), Adrenocorticotropic Hormone (ACTH), stress, posture, and eating habits were all affected by the controlled environmental parameters and that appropriate control of the foregoing could contribute to the improvement of precision farming and pig welfare. © 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.