W. Sybesma – författare

This publication contains the proceedings of a seminar held in Brussels on November 8-9, 1988. The title of the seminar was "Reducing the costs of disease by improving resistance through genetics". The seminar was held as an activity of the Community Programme for the Coordination of Agricultural Research, 1984-1988. Costs of disease depend on losses caused by morbidity, mortality and production decreases and on the costs of preventive measures including vaccination and medication. Production losses often contribute a major portion to the total costs. To reduce costs of disease preventive measures like vaccination, preventive medication and hygienic procedures are applied. Genetic resistance is an attractive preventive measure because of its consistent nature in the next generations, because it precludes veterinary services and because there are no side-effects. Constraints are the long term investment, relatively slow progress per generation (in combination with production traits) and the considerable lack of knowledge about inheritance of resistance mechanisms in farm animals.

Costs of disease depend on losses caused by morbidity, mortality and production decreases and on the costs of preventive measures including vaccination and medication. To reduce costs of disease preventive measures like vaccination, preventive medication and hygienic procedures are applied.

In Europe, at the present time, there is a growing concern about the welfare of animals kept for production purpose. Technical advancements make it possible to produce more and more efficiently. However, the basic requirements for animal well-being are not always taken into account, partly because they need to be defined more precisely in order to be able to implement them. In the meeting on the welfare of pigs, organised under the supervision of the Commission of the European Communities, Directorate General for Agriculture, Division for the Coordination of Agricultural Research, scientists from all over Western Europe brought together relevant experimental data of physiological, veterinary, ethological and economic origin for a multidisciplinary discussion on this subject. The results of research studies were also reviewed in the light of possible practical applications and future research. The meeting was a fruitful first step in bringing together different opinions in order to arrive at a universally acceptable common solution for modern pig production. W. Sybesma SESSION I BEHAVIOURAL AND PHYSIOLOGICAL NEEDS OF PIGS IN GENERAL I. BASIC NEEDS Chairman: J.P. Signoret BEHAVIOURAL AND REPRODUCTIVE STRATEGIES IN WILD FORMS OF Sus scrota (EUROPEAN WILD BOAR AND FERAL PIGS) R. Mauget Centre d''Etudes Biologiques des Animaux Sauvages, 79360 Beauvoir, France.