Effects of travel sickness on stress hormones and meat quality in pigs

Forsling et al. (1984) have shown that exposure to vibration and noise leads to raised concentrations of plasma lysine vasopressin (LVP) in pigs. Pigs can exhibit symptoms of travel sickness during road transport even when, following commercial practice, they are not fed before transportation. These symptoms appear to be associated with elevated concentrations of plasma LVP (Bradshaw et al. in press). We wished to establish whether concentrations of plasma LVP at exsanguination may reveal which pigs had been travel sick during the journey to slaughter and whether those pigs exhibited subsequent poor meat quality.Fifty 90 kg slaughter pigs were transported on a lorry (25 each day for two days, food withdrawn the previous evening at 1700) for five hours (0.49 m2 per pig). RHB travelled in the main body of the vehicle scanning the individually marked pigs every 8 min for incidences of standing, lying and symptoms of travel sickness (sniffing, foaming at the mouth, chomping, retching and vomiting).