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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) strives to develop new methodologies (quantitative and qualitative) for assessing animal welfare of food-producing animals by 2027 and start collecting standardised and good quality animal welfare (AW) data by 2030. In light of its vision, EFSA identified the need to develop an action Roadmap for the More Welfare project: towards new risk assessment methodologies and harmonised animal welfare data in the EU. This Roadmap maps existing animal welfare assessment methods, tools, and data collection activities for different species of food-producing animals through literature review, desk research, online surveys, and workshops. It identifies data and knowledge gaps as well as challenges and blockers prevalent in AW assessment. In doing so, the roadmap points towards research areas that require further development (i.e., working areas), but also highlights collaboration opportunities and priority strategies (actions and project proposals) necessary for achieving EFSA's vision. Seven working areas for animal welfare assessment were identified and discussed with EFSA and external AW experts during virtual workshops, touching upon the definition of animal welfare, indicators and tools for welfare assessment, and the development of frameworks to assess and/or prioritise animal welfare issues. Finally, the Roadmap formulates five project proposals, each of them presenting high-level recommendations on multi-annual and multi-partner projects that were identified in collaboration with EFSA and AW experts, each supported by a SWOT analysis.

Weaning is a critical period in the life of pigs with repercussions on their health and welfare and on the economy of the swine industry. This study aimed to assess the efect of the commercial early weaning on gut microbiota, intestinal gene expression and serum metabolomic response via an integratedomic approach combining 16S rRNA gene sequencing, the OpenArray gene expression technology and 1 H-NMR spectroscopy. Fourteen piglets from diferent litters were sampled for blood, jejunum tissue and caecal content two days before (− 2d), and three days after (+3d) weaning. A clearly diferential ordination of caecal microbiota was observed. Higher abundances of Roseburia, Ruminococcus, Coprococcus, Dorea and Lachnospira genera in weaned piglets compared to prior to weaning showed the quick microbial changes of the piglets’ gut microbiota. Downregulation of OCLN, CLDN4, MUC2, MUC13, SLC15A1 and SLC13A1 genes, also evidenced the negative impact of weaning on gut barrier and digestive functions. Metabolomic approach pinpointed signifcant decreases in choline, LDL, triglycerides, fatty acids, alanine and isoleucine and increases in 3-hydroxybutyrate after weaning. Moreover, the correlation between microbiota and metabolome datasets revealed the existence of metabolic clusters interrelated to diferent bacterial clusters. Our results demonstrate the impact of weaning stress on the piglet and give insights regarding the associations between gut microbiota and the animal gene activity and metabolic response.

The aim of this study was to determine the possible impact of early socialization and an enriched neonatal environment to improve adaptation of piglets to weaning. We hypothesized that changes in the microbiota colonization process and in their metabolic response and intestinal functionality could help the animals face weaning stress. A total of 48 sows and their litters were allotted into a control (CTR) or an enriched treatment (ENR), in which piglets from two adjacent pens were combined and enriched with toys. The pattern of caecal microbial colonization, the jejunal gene expression, the serum metabolome and the intestinal physiology of the piglets were assessed before (-2 d) and after weaning (+ 3d). A differential ordination of caecal microbiota was observed after weaning. Serum metabolome suggested a reduced energetic metabolism in ENR animals, as evidenced by shifts in triglycerides and fatty acids, VLDL/LDL and creatine regions. The TLR2 gene showed to be downregulated in the jejunum of ENR pigs after weaning. The integration of gene expression, metabolome and microbiota datasets confirmed that differences between barren and enriched neonatal environments were evident only after weaning. Our results suggest that improvements in adaptation to weaning could be mediated by a better response to the post-weaning stress.