Supplementation of a Homeopathic Complex in the Diet of Castrated Male and Female Nursery Piglets and Its Effects on Behavior
2025
Gustavo Zigovski | Isabela Cristina Colaço Bez | Mariana Regina Rosa Catoia | Amanda Gabriela Bickel | Ruan R. Daros | Kelly Mazutti Monteiro | Silvana Teixeira Carvalho | Paulo Levi de Oliveira Carvalho | Leandro Batista Costa
Homeopathy is widely used as a complementary therapy, but its effects on the behavior of production animals remain underexplored. This study evaluated the influence of a homeopathic complex on the behavior of castrated male and female piglets in the nursery phase. The experiment lasted 35 days and involved 105 animals. Piglets were allotted to five treatments in a completely randomized block design with seven replicates using three piglets per experimental unit. Tested treatments were: negative control—basal diet without additives; basal diets with 4.5, 6.0, 7.5, and 9.0 kg/ton of the homeopathic complex in the feed. Behavioral tests included open field (OF), novel object (NO), sociability, discriminative learning, judgment bias, and reactivity during weighing (RDW). Vocalizations were lower in females than males during the OF test (<i>p</i> = 0.016). In the RDW test, a trend was identified (<i>p</i> = 0.076): as the level of the homeopathic complex increased, escape attempts decreased in females and increased in males (sex × treatment interaction). Females also showed greater resistance to movement (<i>p</i> = 0.018). Our study suggests that the homeopathic complex does not impact the behavior of castrated male and female nursery piglets. The findings further illustrate that the sex of the animals affects their behavior, with females displaying higher levels of inactivity compared to castrated male piglets.
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