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MATPROG-Matprogrammet: Norsk mat fra sjø og land

Can positive human-animal interactions reduce brain expression of fear in sheep?

Tildelt: kr 3,0 mill.

Prosjektnummer:

185163

Søknadstype:

Prosjektperiode:

2008 - 2011

Our goal is to develop strategies to ameliorate fear in sheep through positive interactions with humans, during pregnancy, lambing and and early post-natal period. We will pursue this goal by presenting pregnant ewes with daily positive, negative or neutr al (control) interactions with humans. During lambing the three treatments will be applied 6 times during the first 24 hours of life. During the seven days post-partum both ewes and lambs will receive posititive, negative and neutral treatments daily. Our prediction is that positive interactions will reduce fear responses and create a more robust phenotype, that will endure transportation stress with less negative consequences than both the neutral and negative interactions phenotypes. We will test fear responses in 24 lambs at 5, 10, and 20 weeks of age, before and after transportation stress. We also will record play behaviour, on pasture. For the oldest lambs (n=24) tissue will be collected to evaluate the impact of differential human-animal interact ions on central pathways associated with fear (amygdala), stress (hippocampus and hypothalamus)and reward ( frontal cortex) before and after transportation stress. We also will measure brain structural integrity. We will follow female lambs through one pr egnancy and measure the long-term effect of positive and negative handling on maternal behaviour and reproductive outcomes. We will collaborate with the on-going project "sheep welfare on the food chain", funded by the Norwegian Research Council to imple ment an on-farm protocol delivering positive or neutral human-animal interactions on 20 commercial farms. Together with the investigators associated with the ongoing project we will monitor levels of stress and fear in the animals at basal and when the an imals will arrive at the slaugther plant. If the results from the controlled trials will be conclusive, tissue samples will be collected from the animals differentially treated at the farm level.

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MATPROG-Matprogrammet: Norsk mat fra sjø og land