Gisele Dela Ricci

Abate humanitário de suínos

The aim of this review was to describe the procedures related to pre-slaughter management to enable the humane slaughter of pigs. The pre-slaughter management is defined as the set of practices for them from the property to the fridge. These procedures have received more attention from the moment that stress was diagnosed among the main responsibilities for losses related to meat quality and economy of the entire system. The shipment, transportation, landing, fasting, water diet, the types and adequacy of stunning and bleeding efficiency are factors that need training for producers, employees and others involved with the production chain for pigs to keep them from interfering with the welfare of these animals.

Enriquecimento ambiental e bem-estar na produção animal

Animal welfare is among the main demands of consumers, who are increasingly critical of the quality of life within the environment, which requires the use of static conducts in systems for animal production. From this perspective, the objective of this study was to describe the importance of environmental enrichment in promoting improved welfare in animal production. Environmental enrichment has as main characteristic to reduce stimuli that generate stressful responses and allow the presentation of natural behavior, avoiding the appearance of stereotyped behaviors in confined animals. Natural behavior was defined as the one in which the animal tends to perform freely, by bringing pleasure or promoting good physiological functioning. While animal welfare is related to housing conditions such as bioclimatology and plant biophysics, it can be measured from physiological and behavioral assessments. Stress is seen as a set of intense and prolonged physiological reactions that result in imbalance of homeostasis, with important and irreversible effects on the animals. Thus, it is concluded that the use of environmental enrichment can greatly contribute to the reduction of stressors, improving animal welfare in production systems.

Ethological analysis of piglets with and without teeth worn in the post-nursery phase in commercial breeding

(1)(2) Universidade de Sao Paulo, Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos, Laboratorio de Biometeorologia e Etologia. E-mail giseledelaricci@usp.br, crisgtitto@usp.br (3) Embrapa Suinos e Aves, BR 153. E-mail: osmar.dallacosta@embrapa.br (4) Universidade de Sao Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinaria e Zootecnia, Departamento de Producao e Nutricao Animal, campus de Pirassununga. E-mail: messiastn@usp.br ___________________________________________________________________________

Características reprodutivas de ovelhas Morada Nova e Somalis Brasileira

Morada Nova and Brazilian Somalis are majorhair sheep breeds of Northeast Brazil. They are exploited for meat and skin, and have characteristics peculiar reproductive ensuring good performance of these breeds even under less favorable conditions for the creation. Both breeds have a high reproductive potential, where females of these groups are annual genetic poliestricas, presenting estrus, ovulation and calving during the whole year. However, reproductive efficiency is important factors in sheep production systems and for various reasons need to be improved in the Brazilian Northeast. The nutritional status is a major factor, when it wants to achieve improvements in the productive and reproductive capacity of the herd, to ensure an appropriate nutritional plan is essential for the increase of zootechnicals parameters.