The objective of this study was to assess the effects of the season, travel duration and trailer compartment location on blood creatine-kinase (CK), lactate and cortisol concentrations in 384 pigs and assess their relationships with trailer temperature, heart rate and gastrointestinal tract temperature (GTT), behavior, carcass damage scores and meat quality. Blood CK was greater in pigs transported in summer (p = 0.02), after 18 h transportation (p < 0.001) and in pigs located in C4, C5 and C10 (p = 0.002). In winter, the concentration of blood lactate was higher (p = 0.04) in pigs transported for 6 h in C5. Pigs located in C10 showed higher (p = 0.01) concentration of cortisol than those transported for 18h in C4 in summer. The highest correlations were between blood cortisol and GTT (r = 0.53; p < 0.001), and between blood CK and GTT (r = 0.41; p < 0.001), truck temperature (r = 0.42; p < 0.001), and pHu in the longissimus muscle (r = 0.41; p < 0.001). In conclusion, although increased blood cortisol and CK levels appear to indicate a physical stress condition in transported pigs, the weak to moderate correlations with environmental and other animal welfare indicators suggest that blood stress parameters can only be used as a complementary measurement in the assessment of the pigs' response to transport stress.

Agriculture and Agri Food Canada Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre Sherbrooke QC J1M 0C8 Canada

Department of Animal Biosciences University of Guelph Guelph ON N1G 2W1 Canada

Department of Animal Science University of Manitoba Winnipeg MB R3T 2N2 Canada

Department of Ethology Institute of Animal Science Pratelstvi 815 104 00 Prague Uhrineves Czech Republic

Department of Mechanical Engineering University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon SK S7N 5A2 Canada

Prairie Swine Centre Saskatoon SK S7H 5N9 Canada

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