home    about    browse    search    latest    help 
Login | Create Account

Integrating foraging and agroforestry into organic pig production - Environmental and animal benefits

Jakobsen, Malene (2018) Integrating foraging and agroforestry into organic pig production - Environmental and animal benefits. PhD thesis, Aarhus University, Blichers Allé 20, 8830 Tjele - Denmark , Dept. of Agroecology. .

[thumbnail of Endelig afhandling_tryk_Malene_Jakobsen_20111406 (002)X.pdf] PDF - English
6MB


Summary

Outdoor organic pig production is associated with significant risk of nitrogen (N) leaching with a subsequent increased risk of polluting nearby surface and ground water sources. Contributing factors are high input of supplementary feed and a relatively high animal stocking density combined with pigs’ heterogeneous deposition of urine and faeces within the paddock. In addition, pigs’ rooting behaviour destroys the grass cover, which adds to the risk of nitrate leaching. In particular, risk of leaching severely increases during winter with periods of high rainfall and impaired grass growth. Based on concerns for the environment, snout ringing of sows is common practice. However, as pigs have a high motivation for rooting, this is a source of conflict between animal welfare and nutrient efficiency concerns according to the organic principles. Therefore, based on pigs’ species-specific and natural behaviour, the overall aim of the PhD project was to contribute to development of alternative production and management strategies leading to an improved environmental performance.


EPrint Type:Thesis
Thesis Type:PhD
Subjects: Animal husbandry > Health and welfare
Animal husbandry > Production systems > Pigs
Environmental aspects
Research affiliation: Denmark > AU - Aarhus University > Faculty of Science and Technology > Department of Agroecology
Denmark > Organic RDD 2 > pECOSYSTEM
Deposited By: Mukendi, Therese K
ID Code:33776
Deposited On:11 Sep 2018 13:31
Last Modified:22 Mar 2022 13:16
Document Language:English
Status:Published

Repository Staff Only: item control page

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics