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Context

Respecting the welfare and health of farm animals is one of the pillars of the agro-ecological transition, with an objective of "One Health" for humans, animals and the environment. This requires understanding the behavioural and physiological needs of animals, their capacity to adapt to disturbances, and measuring their welfare and health with reliable and objective indicators.

Missions

The Welfare  team studies the physiological and behavioural mechanisms underlying the welfare, health and adaptation of pigs and dairy ruminants.
Its ambitions are 1/ to identify indicators, 2/ to determine levers of action and 3/ to propose farming practices or systems that promote animal welfare, health and adaptation in a variety of livestock systems, in line with sustainability objectives.

Research areas

The Welfare  team aims to:

• Develop physiological (e.g. oxytocin, lactose) and behavioural (e.g. social behaviour, vocalisations) indicators, on an individual or group scale, to assess animal welfare and health. These indicators are mainly based on non-invasive and/or automated methods.
• Identify levers for action to promote well-being, health or adaptation by focusing on social links, the human-animal relationship, environmental enrichment and nutrition.

To propose and study innovative systems that play on these levers and have a positive impact on animal welfare and health.

Expertise and skills

The Welfare team has expertise in a number of complementary disciplines:

• Ethology: social links, the human-animal relationship, feeding and drinking behaviour, emotions, cognition.
• Physiology: physiology of stress, nutrition and lactation, neuro-immunology, endocrinology, metabolism.

The team uses a variety of techniques to observe animal behaviour and measure hormones, metabolites, minerals, amino acids and macronutrients:

• video analysis,
• live observation of animals,
• bioacoustics,
• enzyme immunoassay techniques,
• cell culture,
• molecular biology
• chromatographic techniques.

The Welfare team has skills to develop qualitative surveys, lead focus groups or thematic networks, and disseminate its work to different audiences. It is committed to participatory research.

Leader

Céline Tallet
Tel. : (+33)2 23 48 50 53
Courriel : Céline Tallet

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