Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)

Feather pecking is a major problem in intensively reared birds, leading to welfare issues, chronic stress and economic losses. Despite the ample literature on how to improve the living conditions in the poultry industry, very little attention has been paid to gamebird species. The red-legged partrid...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Hernández, M. Carmen, Pérez-Rodríguez, Lorenzo
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/392653
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/392653
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Bird welfare
Gamebirds
Environmental enrichment
id ES_95f0e456fc6dacb1d4cd9cea7ea4541c
oai_identifier_str oai:digital.csic.es:10261/392653
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)Hernández, M. CarmenPérez-Rodríguez, LorenzoBird welfareGamebirdsEnvironmental enrichmentFeather pecking is a major problem in intensively reared birds, leading to welfare issues, chronic stress and economic losses. Despite the ample literature on how to improve the living conditions in the poultry industry, very little attention has been paid to gamebird species. The red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) plays a crucial role in the ecosystems of the Iberian Peninsula and also holds significant socio-economic importance in rural areas, as it is the primary species for small game hunting. Our aim was to experimentally test whether improved housing conditions with abundant natural vegetation cover reduce feather pecking and enhance body condition and growth in red-legged partridges. For two years, we compared the degree of feather pecking in red-legged partridges raised in two types of enclosures: a) in the absence of vegetation and b) with abundant natural vegetation. We also took morphometric measures (body weight and tarsus length) of the birds. We found that feather pecking varied both according to vegetation cover and bird age. Chicks aged between 42 and 67 days old exhibited a higher degree of feather pecking than adults. Vegetation cover reduced feather pecking in adults in one of the years of study and in chicks in the other. Additionally, we also found partial support that the presence of vegetation can improve body condition, as during one year, chicks raised in enclosures with vegetation were marginally heavier than those raised without vegetation. These findings suggest that the presence of vegetation might be a contributing factor in mitigating the development of abnormal behaviours in captive red-legged partridges. Future studies are necessary to evaluate what additional measures can be implemented to enhance the effectiveness of a vegetation enriched environment. Additionally, future studies should aim to investigate the effects vegetation cover in aviaries on other parameters relevant to the welfare of these birds, such as the physiological stress response and other specific behavioural traits.Financial support during data collection was provided by the research project ref. PAI-02–006 awarded by Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha to Javier Viñuela. Partial support during data analysis was provided by the research project Ref. SBPLY/21/180501/000266 awarded by Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha & Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) to Lorenzo Pérez-Rodríguez.Peer reviewedElsevierJunta de Comunidades de Castilla-La ManchaEuropean CommissionConsejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]202520252025info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501Publisher's versioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10261/392653reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSICinstname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)InglésThe underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at DOI 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106457https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106457Síinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:digital.csic.es:10261/3926532026-05-22T06:33:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)
title Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)
spellingShingle Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)
Hernández, M. Carmen
Bird welfare
Gamebirds
Environmental enrichment
title_short Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)
title_full Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)
title_fullStr Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)
title_full_unstemmed Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)
title_sort Vegetation cover in outdoor enclosures reduces feather pecking in farm-reared red-legged partridges (Alectoris rufa)
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Hernández, M. Carmen
Pérez-Rodríguez, Lorenzo
author Hernández, M. Carmen
author_facet Hernández, M. Carmen
Pérez-Rodríguez, Lorenzo
author_role author
author2 Pérez-Rodríguez, Lorenzo
author2_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La Mancha
European Commission
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas [https://ror.org/02gfc7t72]
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Bird welfare
Gamebirds
Environmental enrichment
topic Bird welfare
Gamebirds
Environmental enrichment
description Feather pecking is a major problem in intensively reared birds, leading to welfare issues, chronic stress and economic losses. Despite the ample literature on how to improve the living conditions in the poultry industry, very little attention has been paid to gamebird species. The red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa) plays a crucial role in the ecosystems of the Iberian Peninsula and also holds significant socio-economic importance in rural areas, as it is the primary species for small game hunting. Our aim was to experimentally test whether improved housing conditions with abundant natural vegetation cover reduce feather pecking and enhance body condition and growth in red-legged partridges. For two years, we compared the degree of feather pecking in red-legged partridges raised in two types of enclosures: a) in the absence of vegetation and b) with abundant natural vegetation. We also took morphometric measures (body weight and tarsus length) of the birds. We found that feather pecking varied both according to vegetation cover and bird age. Chicks aged between 42 and 67 days old exhibited a higher degree of feather pecking than adults. Vegetation cover reduced feather pecking in adults in one of the years of study and in chicks in the other. Additionally, we also found partial support that the presence of vegetation can improve body condition, as during one year, chicks raised in enclosures with vegetation were marginally heavier than those raised without vegetation. These findings suggest that the presence of vegetation might be a contributing factor in mitigating the development of abnormal behaviours in captive red-legged partridges. Future studies are necessary to evaluate what additional measures can be implemented to enhance the effectiveness of a vegetation enriched environment. Additionally, future studies should aim to investigate the effects vegetation cover in aviaries on other parameters relevant to the welfare of these birds, such as the physiological stress response and other specific behavioural traits.
publishDate 2025
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2025
2025
2025
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
Publisher's version
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/10261/392653
url http://hdl.handle.net/10261/392653
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv The underlying dataset has been published as supplementary material of the article in the publisher platform at DOI 10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106457
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2024.106457
Sí
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Elsevier
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
instname:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
instname_str Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
reponame_str DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
collection DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869413894721634304
score 15,811543

Similares en LA Referencia