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Pigs

Here you will find information about on-going and completed research projects on pigs. The projects are listed in alphabetical order.

On-going

  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Ask the pig

    Photo: A sow in a box with her piglet laying close to the udder Improved welfare in Swedish pig production through benchmarking. Development of a tool for advisors, certification and improved competitiveness
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Conture (Replacement of carbon dioxide for stunning purposes on pigs)

    Photo of pig with foam around the snout. The aim of the practical study is to evaluate pigs behavioural and physiological reaction to nitrogen high expansion foam as a stunning method as well as study the stunning process itself.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Economic effects of improved animal welfare in livestock and pigs at slaughter

    Animal welfare at slaughter has recently caught increased public attention and slaughterhouse businesses face the challenge of potentially high costs for animal welfare improvements. However, scientific evidence on the overall economic effects of improved animal welfare at slaughter is scarce. The aims of this project are to identify strategies to improve animal welfare at slaughter and to investigate the economic incentives for slaughterhouse businesses to improve animal welfare. The project is interdisciplinary, combining animal science, veterinary medicine and economics with economic modelling, epidemiology, on-site observations and economic simulation studies, to assess costs and benefits related to improved animal welfare at slaughter.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Gut health in monogastric animals

    Microscope image on intestinal epithelium. Photo. The purpose of this project is to identify how various bioactive compounds affect the maturation, physiology and microbiota of the intestine, and how these substances can contribute to maintaining good gut health in pig and other monogastric animals.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    How do we deal with the new quality problem of PSE-like zones in pork?

  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Microbiome-centered strategies to promote development of the immune system in suckling pigs

    Laying sow with nursing piglets. Photo. The aim of the proposed project is to find nutritional strategies to enhance immune competence in young pigs to improve their resilience against enteric infections.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Impact of early gut microflora colonization on foraging behaviour in pigs

    Piglets nursing on a sow. Photo. Investigating the microbiota-gut-brain axis in pigs
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    ProHand Pigs® SE

    Pig smelling the hand of a human Improved animal handling in Swedish pig production through development and implementation of a training program.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Improving sow welfare in group housing systems

    Photo: Sows rooting in straw in a box. - Effects of genotype and rearing strategy on gilts’ social ability, productivity and reproduction later in life.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Increased utilization of ley crops in feed for organic pigs

    Close up of a pig eating forage. Photo. Feeding strategies and influence of dietary inclusion of grass/clover silage on production, fertility, N-emission and pig behaviour
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Recovered phosphorus as feed phosphate to pigs and avians

    Close up of a piglet. Photo. EasyMining, the Swedish University of Agricultural Services (SLU) and Lantmännen have started an innovative project testing the precipitated calcium phosphate (PCP) recovered in the Ash2Phos-project as feed phosphate to poultry and pigs. The hypothesis is that recovered calcium phosphate from sludge ash has the same level of phosphorus digestibility as conventional MCP in pigs and poultry.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    SowNest - Predicting sow performance through nest building profiles

    Photo: Sow laying in straw Nest building is one of the important natural behaviours of sows. Although domestic sows are kept indoors with resources to keep the piglets warm, they are still performing specific behaviour sequences related to nest building. The overall aim of this project is to explore individual nest building behaviour in sows and analyse the variation in the nest building profiles, (e.g. timing and quantity of specific nest building behaviours in relation to onset of farrowing). Furthermore, to study the association of the nest building behaviour profiles to sow welfare, maternal care and piglet survival.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Sustainability of pig production through improved feed efficiency

    What will the future, sustainable pig production look like? This project includes modelling and evaluation of pig production systems. We work with environmental and social life cycle analyses.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    To rear pigs with intact tails

    Photo: Piglet watching you. Did you know that over 90% of pigs are tail docked in the EU? During the pig's first week of life, the tail is docked and its length reduced. The reason for this is that pigs later in life can start biting each other on the tail, which affects both their health and production. A shorter tail reduces the risk of tail biting, but is also associated with both acute and long-term pain while not solving the underlying problem.
  • Institutionen för tillämpad husdjursvetenskap och välfärd

    Welfare indicators at slaughter

    Improved welfare of pigs and cattle at slaughter – evaluation and development of animal welfare indicators and their association to meat quality

Completed

Published: 19 December 2023 - Page editor: josefina.zidar@slu.se
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