| Animal stereotypic behaviors have a nature of being stubborn and not easy to cure,which not only affect the physiological function of the horse itself,but also the damage to the horses’ raising facilities,as well as the value loss of those horses esp.,for showing,racing and competition.The stereotyped behavior is also often used as an important evaluating indicator of animal welfare.In this paper,the stereotypic behaviors in main horse production areas in Xinjiang was investigated by questionnaire,then the stereotypic behaviors were monitored by video system.The physiology,biochemistry,hormones and gut microbiota in stereotypic horses were tested and compared with their normal counterparts.It is hoped that the stereotyped behavior of horses in Xinjiang should be studied,which will lay the foundation for the prevention and control of horses’ stereotypes and ensure the animal welfare and economic value of horses.The main results of this study are as follows:1.The questionnaire survey: the survey involved six horse farms and two veterinary stations in Xinjiang,in which 20 people including veterinarian,horse production technician,and horse farm managers & owners participated the investigation in the scale of the horse population 176264,in which The number of horses raised in the in-door model accounted for about 82.64%,in which the cribbing horse was 3.44%,wood-chewing 4.10%,weaving 0.70%,stall walking 1.03%,self-mutilation 0.34% and other stereotyped behaviors accounted for 0.004 %.2.Stereotyped video surveillance results: Cribbing between 10:00-12:00 was significantly higher than that of other time(P<0.05).There was an increase of weaving before feeding time(P<0.05).Stall walking was no significant change in feeding behavior.The alerting behavior in the normal horse was extremely higher than that of the stereotypic horse(P<0.01).There was no significant difference in the lying-down behavior between the normal and stereotyped horses(P>0.05).3.Physiological and biochemical and hormonal markers of stereotyped horses and normal horses: Normal horse and stereotypic horse body temperature,heart rate were no significant difference(P>0.05),stereotypic horses breathe significantly higher than normal horses at 17:00,there was no significant difference in the rest of the time.The serum total protein,amylase,serum albumin and globulin were significantly higher than those of the normal horse(P<0.05),the contents of blood urea nitrogen,creatinine,calcium and the total bilirubin were significantly higher than those of normal horse(P<0.01);The concentration of β-endorphin in stereotypic horses was significantly lower than that in the normal(P<0.01).4.Comparative study of intestinal microbes: There were 23 phylum and 310 genus,The normal horse is significantly higher than the stereotyped horse(P<0.01),which were Treponema 2 and Ruminococcus 1;Normal horse is significantly higher than stereotype horse(P<0.05),which were Prevotellaceae Ga6A1 group,Terrisporobacter,Fibrobacter,possible genus Sk018,Lachnospiraceae UCG-009 and Lachnospiraceae NK3A20 group;Normal horses were significantly lower than stereotypes(P<0.05),which were Lachnospiraceae ND3007 grou,Lachnospiraceae UCG-010 and Ruminiclostridium.It is the first time to have equine stereotypic behaviors investigated preliminarily in Xinjiang suggesting that horse stereotypic behaviors can lead to the decrease of the horse normal alertness,the damage of teeth and the cause of stomach disease.β-endorphin can be used as a reference to stereotypedindications,applied to the horse’s breeding and prevention of pharyngeal feeding behavior management.Through the study of intestinal microbes,the distribution of intestinal flora,stereotyped behavior of horse digestion is weaker than normal horses,need to be improved in feeding and management,so as to control the stereotyped behavior,identify the horse health situation is greatly helpful,The results of this study laid the scientific foundation for the formulation of stereotypical prevention and control measures. |
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