Rearing pigs with play opportunities: viral load and clinical, behavioural, performance, and immune data

Positive emotions can reduce disease susceptibility during infectious challenges in humans, and emerging evidence suggests similar effects in farm animals. Because play behaviour may support a positive emotional state in pigs, this study investigates whether rearing pigs with regular intermittent play opportunities enhances disease resilience when challenged with porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV). Litters were assigned to either play (PLY; n = 5 L) or control (CON; n = 4 L) treatments at birth. In PLY, play was promoted with extra space and enrichment items for three hours daily from five days of age (doa). At weaning (25 ± 2 doa; mean ± SD), 28 pigs (14/treatment) were selected for a disease challenge, based on weight, sex, and sow. The pigs were transported to a disease containment facility and at 43 ± 2 doa (day 0 post-inoculation, DPI) inoculated with PRRSV. Skin lesions, blood, rectal temperature, clinical signs, body weight, and behaviour were collected p..., Animal measures in detail, including tables, are described in the published paper. Citation: Steinerová K, Harding JC, Parker SE, Wilson HL, Nery Finatto A and Seddon YM (2024) Rearing pigs with play opportunities: the effects on disease resilience in pigs experimentally inoculated with PRRSV. Front. Vet. Sci. 11:1460993. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1460993 Behaviour and skin lesions The duration of play (locomotor, social and object) and exploratory behaviour (Table 2) were scored with continuous sampling within the initial 10 min of the play sessions only in the PLY treatment at -2 (baseline), 3, 7, 11, 16 and 20 DPI. The scoring commenced after an experimenter exited the playpen and closed the gate. On the same days, to assess pig activity during the challenge, the frequency of active, inactive, and feeding behaviours (Table 2) in the PLY and CON treatments were assessed through instantaneous sampling within the first half of the play sessions at 5-min intervals (90 min, 18 scans/pig/DPI..., , # Rearing pigs with play opportunities: viral load and clinical, behavioural, performance, and immune data [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t55](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t55) ## Description of the data and file structure This study is a part of a PhD in Swine behaviour and welfare at the University of Saskatchewan. This PhD focusses on improvement of the quality of life of farmed pigs in intensive production on Canadian farms using affordable and practical approaches. It is investigated if play behaviour can be used as a tool to improve resilience and robustness of farmed pigs. This study used disease challenge in pigs reared with play and explored whether pigs reared with play exhibit greater disease resilience. For methodology on how play was promoted and description of pig treatments, see the published paper. Because play behaviour may support a positive emotional state in pigs, this study investigates whether rearing pigs with regular intermittent play opportuniti...积极情绪可降低人类在感染挑战期间的疾病易感性，新兴证据表明该效应在家养动物中同样存在。鉴于玩耍行为可帮助猪只建立积极情绪状态，本研究旨在探讨为猪只提供定期间歇性玩耍机会，是否能增强其在感染猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒（porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, PRRSV）时的疾病抗病力。 仔猪在出生时被分为玩耍组（PLY；n=5窝）与对照组（CON；n=4窝）。在玩耍组中，自5日龄起，每日为仔猪提供额外空间与丰容物品，促进其玩耍行为，每日时长3小时。仔猪断奶时（25±2日龄，均值±标准差），研究人员根据体重、性别及母猪信息，从两组中各选取14头共28头仔猪用于疾病挑战实验。仔猪被转运至疾病隔离设施，于43±2日龄（接种后第0天，days post-inoculation, DPI）接种PRRSV。研究收集了仔猪的皮肤损伤、血液样本、直肠温度、临床症状、体重及行为学数据……详细的动物实验测量指标（含表格）已在已发表论文中详述。 引用文献：Steinerová K, Harding JC, Parker SE, Wilson HL, Nery Finatto A 及 Seddon YM (2024) 《为猪只提供玩耍机会：实验感染PRRSV猪只的疾病抗病力影响》，Front. Vet. Sci. 11:1460993。DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1460993 行为与皮肤损伤 仅在玩耍组中，于接种后第-2天（基线）、3、7、11、16及20天，通过连续采样法对玩耍行为（包括运动、社交与物体玩耍）及探索行为（见表2）的时长进行评分，评分时段为每次玩耍会话的前10分钟。评分始于实验人员离开玩耍围栏并关闭围栏门之后。在上述同一天数，为评估挑战期间的仔猪活动水平，在玩耍会话的前半小时内，以5分钟为间隔进行瞬时采样，统计玩耍组与对照组仔猪的活跃、静息及采食行为频率（见表2），每头仔猪每天接种后采集90分钟数据，共18次扫描…… # 为猪只提供玩耍机会：病毒载量与临床、行为、生产性能及免疫数据 [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t55](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.76hdr7t55) ## 数据与文件结构说明 本研究为萨斯喀彻温大学养猪行为与福利方向博士课题的组成部分。该课题旨在通过经济实用的可行方案，提升加拿大集约化养殖农场肉猪的生活品质，探究能否以玩耍行为作为工具，提升肉猪的抗病力与健壮性。本研究对接受玩耍饲养的猪只开展疾病挑战实验，旨在探讨此类猪只是否表现出更强的疾病抗病能力。关于玩耍行为的促进方法及仔猪分组处理的详细说明，请参阅已发表论文。 由于玩耍行为可帮助猪只建立积极情绪状态，本研究旨在探讨为猪只提供定期间歇性玩耍机会……