Abstract

Affective state can bias an animal’s judgement. Animals in positive affective states can interpret ambiguous cues more positively (“optimistically”) than animals in negative affective states. Thus, judgement bias tests can determine an animal’s affective state through their responses to ambiguous cues. We tested the effects of environmental complexity and stocking density on affective states of broiler chickens through a multimodal judgement bias test. Broilers were trained to approach reinforced locations signaled by one color and not to approach unreinforced locations signaled by a different color. Trained birds were tested for latencies to approach three ambiguous cues of intermediate color and location. Broilers discriminated between cues, with shorter latencies to approach ambiguous cues closest to the reinforced cue than cues closest to the unreinforced cue, validating the use of the test in this context. Broilers housed in high-complexity pens approached ambiguous cues faster than birds in low-complexity pens–an optimistic judgement bias, suggesting the former were in a more positive affective state. Broilers from high-density pens tended to approach all cues faster than birds from low-density pens, possibly because resource competition in their home pen increased food motivation. Overall, our study suggests that environmental complexity improves broilers’ affective states, implying animal welfare benefits of environmental enrichment.

Details

Title
Environmental complexity positively impacts affective states of broiler chickens
Author
Anderson, M. G. 1 ; Campbell, A. M. 1 ; Crump, A. 2 ; Arnott, G. 3 ; Jacobs, L. 1 

 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Department of Animal and Poultry Sciences, Blacksburg, USA (GRID:grid.438526.e) (ISNI:0000 0001 0694 4940) 
 London School of Economics and Political Science, Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Science, London, UK (GRID:grid.13063.37) (ISNI:0000 0001 0789 5319) 
 Queen’s University Belfast, School of Biological Sciences, Belfast, UK (GRID:grid.4777.3) (ISNI:0000 0004 0374 7521) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20452322
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2563062597
Copyright
© This is a U.S. Government work and not under copyright protection in the US; foreign copyright protection may apply 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.