FT86USC8

3205

8 janvier 2021 16:00

12 avril 2021 15:12

Organic pig husbandry systems in Europe are diverse - ranging from indoor systems with concrete outside run to outdoor systems all year round. The level of animal health and welfare (AHW) and environmental impact (ENV) has never been quantified for those systems using on-farm data. Furthermore it is often discussed, that husbandry systems common in organic farming (e.g. outdoor systems) enhance AHW but impair ENV. In this thesis (1) AHW, (2) ENV and (3) the association between AHW and ENV was assessed for three different organic pig husbandry systems. In total 74 pig farms in eight European countries were included. The husbandry systems were defined as indoor (IN; n=34), partly outdoor (POUT; n=28) and outdoor (OUT; n=12). (1) AHW was assessed in pregnant sows (SO), weaners (WE) and fattening pigs (FA). Across systems, prevalences of most AHW areas were low; exceptions were respiratory problems (IN, POUT), diarrhoea (IN), vulva deformation (IN, OUT) and short tails (IN, POUT). Total suckling piglet losses should be improved in all three systems. OUT had advantages regarding several areas of AHW, which could be explained by the outdoor specific environment, e.g. respiratory problems (better air quality), diarrhoea (less exposure to faeces) and lameness (softer lying and walking surfaces). POUT farms kept SO in most cases outdoors and WE/ FA similar to IN farms, which was reflected in the AHW results. (2) A life cycle assessment (LCA) was conducted to quantify ENV for the criteria greenhouse gas emissions, acidification and eutrophication potential of the three husbandry systems. LCA was calculated for 64 production chains (PC), consisting mainly of farrow to finish farms or combined breeding and fattening only farms. Emissions were influenced mainly by feed and direct emissions from excreta with the fattening stage as the main contributor. Regarding greenhouse gas emissions, no differences were found between systems. POUT showed lower acidification potential than IN and lower eutrophication potential than OUT. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed three clusters: a ‘low ENV’ cluster (lowest median for all criteria); an ‘intermediate ENV’ cluster (intermediate medians for all criteria) and a ‘high ENV’ cluster (highest median for all criteria). One of the main differences was a significantly lower fatteners' feed conversion rate in the low ENV cluster. (3) No significant association was found between AHW and ENV when comparing the ENV clusters with regard to an overall AHW summary score (GOOD%), summary scores per animal category (GOOD%_SO, GOOD%_WE or GOOD%_FA) and single animal-based parameters or correlations between GHGE, AP, EP and GOOD%. The main reasons for a lack of associations between AHW and ENV may be the fact that LCA includes impact areas (e.g. manure storage and spreading, emissions during feed production), which do not necessarily relate to AHW. It can be concluded, that European organic pigs kept in all three types of husbandry systems (IN/POUT/OUT) may experience high levels of AHW and have low ENV. The variation of both, AHW and ENV, was in most cases higher within a husbandry system than between, indicating a potential for improvement in all systems e.g. through farm (PC) individual management strategies. Furthermore the results show advantages of POUT regarding ENV and OUT regarding AHW, which may serve as a basis for the further development of organic pig husbandry systems. The lack of association between AHW and ENV found in this study does not necessarily mean that no association exists. Still, this study generated a starting point to explore associations between AHW and ENV to be tested either on a larger number of PC or between specific AHW and ENV areas.

None

• AB - Spécifique
• FREDO conduite de troupeau
• FREDO environnement
• FREDO mode élevage, bien-être et qualité
• FREDO santé animale
• GEO Autriche
• GEO Europe
• life cycle assessment

2015

1 janvier 2015