Cargando…
Skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): Welfare indicators and ham defects
In order to evaluate at the slaughterhouse external carcass lesions on heavy pigs (170 kg) as potential welfare indicators, and the prevalence of ham defects determining ham exclusion from Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) markets, 732 pig batches from northern Italy were monitored during a 12-m...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
---|---|
Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2018
|
Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6231647/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30418998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207115 |
_version_ | 1783370269309534208 |
---|---|
author | Bottacini, Mattia Scollo, Annalisa Edwards, Sandra A. Contiero, Barbara Veloci, Martina Pace, Vincenzo Gottardo, Flaviana |
author_facet | Bottacini, Mattia Scollo, Annalisa Edwards, Sandra A. Contiero, Barbara Veloci, Martina Pace, Vincenzo Gottardo, Flaviana |
author_sort | Bottacini, Mattia |
collection | PubMed |
description | In order to evaluate at the slaughterhouse external carcass lesions on heavy pigs (170 kg) as potential welfare indicators, and the prevalence of ham defects determining ham exclusion from Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) markets, 732 pig batches from northern Italy were monitored during a 12-month period, and then processed analysing the effect of slaughter season, overnight lairage, and production type. On the slaughter line, skin scratches were separately scored in the posterior region (defined as the area including the hind legs and the tail) and the anterior one (as the remaining area), while the whole carcass was examined for external hematomas. Chronic ear and tail lesions referable to the rearing phase, and bursitis were recorded as retrospective welfare indicators. The annual median prevalence of carcasses per batch with severe anterior scratches was 64% while 46.4% had severe posterior scratches. The highest autumn score for both skin scratches (P < 0.001) and traumatic ham defects (P = 0.005) is reflected in the positive correlation between severe posterior scratches and ham hematomas (r(2) = 0.27; P < 0.001). Overnight lairage batches resulted in higher prevalence for scratches, while among ham defects only veining increased. Among binary records, only ear lesions were frequently recorded (annual median = 10%). A comparison analysis between pigs in and out of PDO circuit was performed to evaluate the variation related to the different genetics, showing differences for ear and tail lesions and for almost all the considered ham defects. The present study confirms that skin lesions represent a problem also for heavy pigs and that overnight lairage and season can affect their prevalence, with the associated possibility to give ham defects. Ear lesions are suitable to be used as retrospective welfare indicator, while tail lesions usage is nowadays limited by the extensive use of tail docking. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-6231647 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2018 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-62316472018-11-19 Skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): Welfare indicators and ham defects Bottacini, Mattia Scollo, Annalisa Edwards, Sandra A. Contiero, Barbara Veloci, Martina Pace, Vincenzo Gottardo, Flaviana PLoS One Research Article In order to evaluate at the slaughterhouse external carcass lesions on heavy pigs (170 kg) as potential welfare indicators, and the prevalence of ham defects determining ham exclusion from Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) markets, 732 pig batches from northern Italy were monitored during a 12-month period, and then processed analysing the effect of slaughter season, overnight lairage, and production type. On the slaughter line, skin scratches were separately scored in the posterior region (defined as the area including the hind legs and the tail) and the anterior one (as the remaining area), while the whole carcass was examined for external hematomas. Chronic ear and tail lesions referable to the rearing phase, and bursitis were recorded as retrospective welfare indicators. The annual median prevalence of carcasses per batch with severe anterior scratches was 64% while 46.4% had severe posterior scratches. The highest autumn score for both skin scratches (P < 0.001) and traumatic ham defects (P = 0.005) is reflected in the positive correlation between severe posterior scratches and ham hematomas (r(2) = 0.27; P < 0.001). Overnight lairage batches resulted in higher prevalence for scratches, while among ham defects only veining increased. Among binary records, only ear lesions were frequently recorded (annual median = 10%). A comparison analysis between pigs in and out of PDO circuit was performed to evaluate the variation related to the different genetics, showing differences for ear and tail lesions and for almost all the considered ham defects. The present study confirms that skin lesions represent a problem also for heavy pigs and that overnight lairage and season can affect their prevalence, with the associated possibility to give ham defects. Ear lesions are suitable to be used as retrospective welfare indicator, while tail lesions usage is nowadays limited by the extensive use of tail docking. Public Library of Science 2018-11-12 /pmc/articles/PMC6231647/ /pubmed/30418998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207115 Text en © 2018 Bottacini et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Bottacini, Mattia Scollo, Annalisa Edwards, Sandra A. Contiero, Barbara Veloci, Martina Pace, Vincenzo Gottardo, Flaviana Skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): Welfare indicators and ham defects |
title | Skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): Welfare indicators and ham defects |
title_full | Skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): Welfare indicators and ham defects |
title_fullStr | Skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): Welfare indicators and ham defects |
title_full_unstemmed | Skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): Welfare indicators and ham defects |
title_short | Skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): Welfare indicators and ham defects |
title_sort | skin lesion monitoring at slaughter on heavy pigs (170 kg): welfare indicators and ham defects |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6231647/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30418998 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207115 |
work_keys_str_mv | AT bottacinimattia skinlesionmonitoringatslaughteronheavypigs170kgwelfareindicatorsandhamdefects AT scolloannalisa skinlesionmonitoringatslaughteronheavypigs170kgwelfareindicatorsandhamdefects AT edwardssandraa skinlesionmonitoringatslaughteronheavypigs170kgwelfareindicatorsandhamdefects AT contierobarbara skinlesionmonitoringatslaughteronheavypigs170kgwelfareindicatorsandhamdefects AT velocimartina skinlesionmonitoringatslaughteronheavypigs170kgwelfareindicatorsandhamdefects AT pacevincenzo skinlesionmonitoringatslaughteronheavypigs170kgwelfareindicatorsandhamdefects AT gottardoflaviana skinlesionmonitoringatslaughteronheavypigs170kgwelfareindicatorsandhamdefects |