Erratum to: Emotions on the loose: emotional contagion and the role of oxytocin in pigs.

Erratum to: Anim Cogn (2015) 18:517­532,DOI 10.1007/s10071-014-0820-6.The original publication of this article unfortunately contained an error in Table 5. The superscript letters "a, b" were unintentionally omitted under the column head "Without naive pigs present" in the rows of "Standing alert", "Ears back", "Tail in curl" and "Tail wagging". The corrected table is given below.

Working and reference memory of pigs (Sus scrofa domesticus) in a holeboard spatial discrimination task: the influence of environmental enrichment.

Interest in cognitive research in pigs is increasing, but little is known about the impact of environmental conditions on pigs' cognitive capabilities. The present study investigated the effect of environmental enrichment on cognitive performance of pigs in a holeboard spatial task, in which they had to discriminate four baited buckets out of 16. Pigs (n = 32) were either housed in stimulus-poor, barren pens, or in larger pens enriched with rooting substrates. Pigs were subjected to 30 holeboard trials. Both working memory (WM), that is, the ratio (baited visits/total number of (re)visits to baited buckets), and reference memory (RM), that is, the ratio ((re)visits to baited buckets/total number of visits to all buckets), improved over trials. WM scores were higher in pigs from enriched pens than in pigs from barren pens. Housing did not affect RM scores. Personality type of the pigs, as assessed early in life using a backtest, did not affect WM or RM. In conclusion, housing conditions of pigs did not affect reference memory, but environmental enrichment improved working memory of pigs in a spatial discrimination task. Based on the findings of this study, we suggest that cognitive functioning of pigs may be impaired under commonly used housing conditions.

Provision of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) in different ways benefits broiler welfare and performance, with largest effects of scattering live larvae.

Including black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) in broiler diets has the potential to benefit broiler welfare and increase production performance, but the effects of dietary BSFL likely depend on the way BSFL are provided. In this study we aimed to discern the effects of different BSFL forms and provisioning methods by providing male broilers with no BSFL (CON), processed BSFL meal and oil incorporated in the feed pellets (INC-F), dried BSFL in the feeder on top of the feed (D-F), or dried or live BSFL scattered through the pen (D-S and L-S, respectively), and evaluating various indicators of broiler welfare and production performance. In all dietary BSFL treatments 8% of the total dietary dry matter content was replaced with BSFL. Dried and live larvae were provided in four equal daily portions at 08:00, 11:00, 14:00, and 17:00. Compared to a diet without BSFL, scattering dried or live larvae through the pen increased active behaviors, though only live larvae increased the time broilers spent standing. Broilers in the D-F, D-S and L-S treatments had higher average daily body weight gain during some periods, and they had higher final weights, despite L-S broilers having a lower total dry matter intake than CON broilers. Furthermore, the dry matter conversion ratio of INC-F, D-S and L-S broilers was reduced. At the end of the rearing period, pens in all dietary BSFL treatments had better litter quality than CON pens. Furthermore, food pad dermatitis was less severe for INC-F and D-S broilers than for CON broilers, and for L-S broilers than for broilers in all other treatments, and hock burn severity was less for L-S than for CON broilers. Broiler lameness, cleanliness, plasma natural antibody titers, and whole blood serotonin were not influenced by dietary BSFL treatment. Feather corticosterone concentrations were affected by treatment, though without any significant post-hoc differences. Our results indicate that BSFL meal and oil, and dried and live BSFL are all promising feed ingredients for broilers as they all benefit some aspects of broiler welfare and production performance. Scattering BSFL through the pen results in more welfare benefits than providing BSFL in the feeder, with live BSFL having the most beneficial effects on broiler welfare.