Interactions with the environment: effects of housing conditions on performance and behaviour

This project aims to study genotype by environment interactions to assess the robustness of the selection method, and to reveal whether adding social effects to the breeding program yields pigs with improved (social) adaptability in a larger range of environments, or pigs that are adapted to a specific, suboptimal environment. Breeding values of animals are usually based on performance in standard, barren, environments. The development and impact of underlying (mal)adaptive traits that respond to selection schemes that incorporate social effects, likely depend, however, on the environment in which the animals are reared and kept. It is possible that novel selection methods solve a problem that would not have emerged under more optimal conditions. Conditions during the socialisation period early in life, for instance, crucially affect the development of social skills. The availability of suitable rooting substrate largely influences oral manipulation of pen-mates. This project will focus on how aspects of the physical environment during several stages of life affect (social) interactions between pigs. In addition, genotype by environment interactions will be studied on a larger scale.