Le système d’alimentation INRA 2018 pour les ruminants, dont les bases sont décrites dans l’article compagnon, est adapté aux bovins, ovins et caprins, producteurs de lait ou de viande, à l’auge ou au pâturage. Le logiciel INRAtion®V5 est le support opérationnel du système. Il est utilisé pour résoudre des problématiques de rationnement en fonction des caractéristiques des animaux et du troupeau, des aliments disponibles, et des objectifs de l’éleveur. Ces objectifs peuvent être multiples et concerner la production des animaux, la gestion de leurs réserves corporelles, l’efficience biologique ou économique d’utilisation des ressources, et la limitation des rejets dans l’environnement. L’optimisation multiobjectif permet de proposer une ration qui constitue le meilleur compromis entre ces objectifs. Cette ration détermine différentes réponses des animaux, qu’il est possible de prévoir pour établir a priori un diagnostic de la ration sur différents critères. Cet article présente des exemples d’élaboration multiobjectif et d’évaluation multicritère des rations pour différentes espèces et types de productions.
L’alimentation est un enjeu stratégique pour l’éleveur, qui associe recherche de la performance zootechnique, maîtrise des coûts et de la qualité des produits, respect du bien-être animal et de l’environnement. Le système INRA 2018, basé sur les connaissances en nutrition accumulées par INRAE et dans la littérature, propose une approche du rationnement adaptée aux bovins, ovins et caprins, producteurs de lait ou de viande, à l’auge ou au pâturage. Le système repose sur plusieurs unités, communes aux valeurs des aliments et des rations d’une part, et aux besoins ou à la capacité d’ingestion des animaux d’autre part : les UF (unités fourragères) pour l’énergie, les PDI/AADI pour les protéines et acides aminés digestibles, et les UE (unités d’encombrement) pour l’ingestion. Il comprend également une estimation des apports et besoins en minéraux, vitamines et eau. Les valeurs des aliments sont déterminées à partir de leur digestibilité et de leur dégradabilité dans le rumen, qui dépendent de leur composition chimique, et d’interactions au sein de la ration. Les besoins des animaux prennent en compte les différentes fonctions physiologiques, et la capacité d’ingestion est propre à chaque catégorie d’animal. Diverses lois de réponse permettent de simuler les performances selon la ration : production de lait, croissance, rejets (CH₄, azote), indicateurs de qualité des produits et de risque d’acidose. Le logiciel INRAtion®V5 intègre ces modèles pour résoudre des problématiques de rationnement sur le terrain. Cet article présente les bases du système en mettant l’accent sur les nouveautés intégrées en 2018. Un article compagnon présente des exemples d’élaboration multiobjectif et d’évaluation multicritère des rations pour différentes espèces et types de productions.
Le flexitarisme, défini comme une réduction volontaire et raisonnée de la consommation de viande sans exclusion totale, connaît une progression importante en Europe. Cette revue analyse les évolutions récentes de la consommation de viande, les motivations associées au flexitarisme ainsi que la place de la viande dans une alimentation équilibrée. Elle montre que les attentes des consommateurs envers les produits animaux se sont fortement diversifiées et reposent désormais sur des dimensions à la fois intrinsèques (qualités sensorielles, nutritionnelles, sanitaires) et extrinsèques (origine, environnement, bien-être animal, modes de production). Dans ce contexte, l’approche « moins mais mieux » apparaît comme un levier central des transitions alimentaires, bien que ses contours soient encore ambigus et variables selon les consommateurs. L’article examine également l’émergence et l’acceptabilité des principales alternatives à la viande, notamment les analogues végétaux, la « viande de culture » et les insectes comestibles. Si les analogues végétaux constituent aujourd’hui les alternatives les plus développées sur le marché, leur adoption régulière reste fortement conditionnée par leurs propriétés organoleptiques, leur degré de transformation et leur prix. La « viande de culture », malgré des perspectives technologiques importantes, demeure confrontée à des défis majeurs en matière de coûts, de passage à l’échelle industrielle, d’acceptabilité sociale et de cadre réglementaire. Quant aux insectes comestibles, leur développement reste limité par des freins culturels persistants dans les pays occidentaux. Cette revue souligne ainsi que l’adoption des alternatives à la viande dépend non seulement de leur prix d’achat et de leurs performances nutritionnelles, sensorielles et environnementales, mais aussi de leur capacité à répondre aux attentes culturelles, sociales et symboliques associées à la viande.
Cet article synthétise une réflexion collective sur les orientations génétiques des bovins laitiers et allaitants de France métropolitaine nécessaires à l’adaptation des animaux aux évolutions des systèmes de production à l’horizon 2040. Il présente les facteurs susceptibles de faire évoluer les productions bovines françaises (démographie des éleveurs, changement climatique, raréfaction des ressources, progrès techniques et évolutions technologiques, réglementations et politiques agricoles, libéralisation du marché, évolution de la demande et organisation des filières). Les systèmes de production bovins devraient néanmoins conserver une diversité importante dans un contexte économique et réglementaire plus contraint, de changement climatique structurant et de raréfaction des ressources non renouvelables. Cet article recommande d’axer la sélection sur la rentabilité économique globale du système plutôt que sur le rendement animal. Pour les bovins laitiers, il s’agira d’augmenter la longévité fonctionnelle, réduire le format des animaux et augmenter la persistance laitière. Pour les bovins à viande, il est souhaitable d’augmenter la précocité sexuelle et la précocité de développement, améliorer la capacité des animaux à valoriser l’herbe et les fourrages, l’aptitude laitière, l’autonomie des animaux et, pour les systèmes d’engraissement herbager, réduire le format. Enfin, pour les bovins laitiers et à viande, il est suggéré d’augmenter la capacité d’ingestion de fourrages grossiers. En regard du changement climatique, il est indispensable de prendre en compte les problèmes sanitaires associés (en particulier émergents), améliorer la tolérance au stress thermique, et réduire les émissions de méthane. La dernière partie de cet article discute des besoins des programmes de sélection induits par ces évolutions.
Cet article présente l’histoire et le bilan de la sélection génomique bovine en France, avec ses étapes de démarrage dans les grandes races laitières, son extension progressive à toutes les races, le développement du génotypage permis par la diminution de son coût, l’intégration de nouveaux caractères et la redéfinition des objectifs de sélection avec davantage d’importance donnée aux caractères fonctionnels. Il présente les évolutions méthodologiques réalisées au cours du temps, concernant le génotypage, les populations de référence et les méthodes d’évaluation génomique. Les résultats acquis sont présentés, en termes d’évolution génétique sur les différents caractères – toujours favorable – d’évolution de la consanguinité – très variable entre races – et de maîtrise des anomalies génétiques. Une forte synergie a été construite entre recherche et sélection : toutes les évolutions ont été suscitées par la recherche, mais d’un autre côté, les données nouvelles engendrées par la sélection ont nourri la recherche. Enfin, l’article décrit succinctement les fortes évolutions organisationnelles qui ont été pour partie induites par la sélection génomique.
This article examines the individual and collective factors that contribute to the sustainability of mountain cattle farming. The Aubrac region is a relevant case study because it pioneered a development model in the 1960s that promoted the utilisation of environmental constraints as resources. The region also benefited from a multidisciplinary action research project that supported this development dynamic. Using data collected during four successive phases from 1964 to 2022, we reconstructed the trajectories of 33 farms and four collectives. Using a systemic institutionalist analytical framework, which highlights the role of public and professional rules in structuring and managing collective resources, we studied the co-evolution of productive systems and collective dynamics. Our findings demonstrate that these dynamics have facilitated the democratisation of access to productive resources, including genetics, knowledge and markets, while also providing greater security for individual trajectories. This synergistic co-evolution continues in the dairy sector around the Jeune Montagne cooperative, while a slowdown and refocusing on competitive individual approaches can be observed in the suckler sector. These results argue for the reactivation of an activity followed by cross-sectoral territorial coordination.
The role of the microbiota, in particular the gut microbiota, on host performance is increasingly documented in farm animals. These advances have been made possible by the use of new high-throughput sequencing techniques and the development of data-analysis methods to characterize the microorganisms present (diversity, relative abundance, ecosystem assembly). They have provided new insights into the relations between host genetic diversity and host-microbiota interactions, as well as into the estimation of phenotypes or genetic values that consider microbiotic variability. These results fuel a new paradigm based on the definition of the holobiont as a biological system that assembles a host and its microbiota, thus providing a new vision of what an individual represents. We propose to assess the swine holobiont through modelling and experimental results to understand, predict and steer phenotypes to improve, for example, the health but also the productive and environmental efficiencies of pigs. These advances are also discussed as paving the way for developing selection strategies that simultaneously consider information about the host and its microbiota, while reflecting on the sustainable improvement of populations at the scale of a holobiont instead of an individual animal.
The management of forage feeding in goat farming is a key issue, influencing both animal performance and farmers' work organisation. This article, which summarises the findings of the MaxForGoat project, compares farmers' practices and current recommendations with the results of experimental trials aimed at quantifying the impact of forage feeding strategies on intake and milk production in dairy goats. The project adopts a combined approach, including surveys and focus groups with farmers and advisers, alongside experimental trials. The study examines the effects of forage feeding frequency (if one forage fed per day), feeding order (if two forages fed per day), and refusal rate. On the contrary to a widely held belief, feeding frequency had no significant impact on total intake or milk production. However, refusal rate influenced diet quality, as commonly acknowledged in practice, but with effects depending on forage type. Feeding order could also modify the diet composition, but its impact depended on differences in palatability and nutritional composition between the two forages fed. The study highlights the goats' ability to adapt and adjust their feeding behaviour based on feeding timing as well as their dietary preferences. It would be unrealistic to force goats to consume an unpalatable forage if a more palatable one was offered later during the day. They seem nonetheless able to adapt their behaviour to follow a feeding rhythm in line with the farmer's constraints.
The global trade in animal products, excluding trade between European Union (EU) Member States, has grown significantly over the past two decades, reaching 226 billion euros in 2023. This represents approximately 17 % of total agricultural and agri-food trade. With a trade surplus of nearly 50 billion euros in 2024, the EU is the region in the world with the largest surplus for animal products. Despite the implementation of several free trade agreements, the EU's trade balance has improved markedly over the past twenty years, particularly thanks to dairy products and pork. While trade agreements with the United Kingdom and Canada have been beneficial to European trade, more restrictive measures were introduced in 2025 with Ukraine to curb a substantial rise in exports (notably for poultry) since the outbreak of the war.
Reducing enteric methane emissions from ruminant livestock is a common goal of many countries to limit global warming. While direct measurements of enteric methane emissions are limited to a small number of animals, indirect predictive methods based on milk or feces can now be used to assess emissions from large numbers of animals in a variety of contexts. These approaches allow the development of genetic selection models and management practices associated with lower methane emissions for small and large ruminants. A better understanding of the relationships between rumen microbial diversity and the ruminant (host) will help to identify new solutions for modulating rumen microbial populations and hydrogen fluxes, with the aim of reducing methane emissions while maintaining animal production and health. Ruminant diets and herd management are important ways to reduce enteric methane emissions, but the practices are not always suitable for the different pedoclimatic contexts, particularly in hot regions. Trade-off must be evaluated to identify combinations of levers that can reduce enteric methane emissions without compromising the health of animals and the ecosystem services associated with ruminant livestock systems.
La réduction des émissions de méthane entérique associées aux systèmes d’élevage de ruminants est l’un des objectifs de lutte contre le changement climatique pour de nombreux pays. Si les mesures directes des émissions de méthane entérique sont limitées dans leur déploiement à un petit nombre d’animaux, des méthodes indirectes de prédiction via le lait ou les fèces peuvent être appliquées à un grand nombre d’animaux dans des contextes variés. Ces approches permettent de développer de nouveaux modèles de sélection génétique ou de conduites d’élevage des petits et gros ruminants associées à des niveaux d’émissions de méthane entériques plus faibles. Les recherches pour comprendre les relations entre la diversité microbienne du rumen et les phénotypes des ruminants contribuent à l’identification de nouveaux leviers pour moduler les populations microbiennes et les flux d’hydrogène dans le rumen, avec l’ambition de réduire les émissions de méthane tout en préservant la production et la santé de l’animal. L’alimentation et la conduite des troupeaux constituent aussi des leviers d’intérêt, mais leurs effets sur la réduction des émissions de méthane entérique sont variables selon les contextes pédoclimatiques, notamment en régions chaudes. Des stratégies combinant différents leviers doivent être identifiées pour réduire efficacement les émissions de méthane sans compromettre la santé de l’animal et les services écosystémiques rendus par leurs systèmes d’élevage.
After a first article dedicated to pain in livestock animals, this article addresses scientific knowledge on pain management in livestock species intended for human consumption, including fish. Pain relief is based for a part on its pharmacology. Four families of molecules can or could be useful for multimodal analgesia: local anaesthetics, alpha 2-agonists, anti-inflammatories, and opioids. In addition, pain experience may be modulated by a so-called ethological approach, which is based on emotional and attentional factors, or on animal training.
Initially restricted to the absence of negative emotion and respect for the needs of animals, animal welfare is defined as resulting from a positive mental state. This paradigm shift has placed mental states at the centre of animal welfare research. However, it is still difficult to understand and assess them, two objectives that we aim to achieve in this article. After mentioning a few historical and scientific elements that we consider fundamental, we propose defining mental states as all the processes involved in affective states, social cognition, physical cognition, and embodied cognition. This definition is consistent with the definition and methods used to assess animal welfare, which initially focused on affective states such as emotions. We will review several experimental approaches to understanding the affective states of farm animals and some approaches used to assess them in livestock farming. To access other mental states such as the different forms of cognition, we propose to explore the approaches used to diagnose and manage the mental health of animals and humans. In particular, we are interested in the Research Domain of Criteria (RDoC) project, which provides a relevant framework for investigating and assessing the mental states of animals. We will discuss its benefits and look ahead to the implementation of such a project to explore the biological substrates of mental states, identify new indicators of welfare, and initiate an approach integrating both welfare and health.
This article addresses scientific knowledge on pain in livestockspecies intended for human consumption. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with or resembling that associated with actual or potential tissue damage. It has three components: sensory, emotional and cognitive. The mechanisms of pain are similar in most species: elaboration, transmission, integration. Throughout their lives, farm animals are confronted with various contexts that can generate pain, with a significant impact on their production and economic performances, as well as on their health and welfare. Pain caused by some farming practices is predictable and its management can be anticipated, unlike accidents or diseases whose occurrence is not or hardly predictable. When in pain, farm animals change their behaviour and physiological response. To detect it, we can mobilize observations focusing on the animals (e.g. posture, facial expression, reaction to palpation, etc.) but also on the way they interact with their physical environment (activities, locomotion, space use, etc.) and social environment (proximity, social interactions, synchronization).
The welfare of farm animals is a complex concept that is intrinsically linked to the animal's perception of its environment. Although welfare cannot be measured directly, it can be assessed by identifying and quantifying specific indicators according to the context of the assessment. Animal beha- viour, widely recognized as a key welfare indicator, responds dynamically to changes in the rearing environment, such as access to pasture, which affect both the routine and spatial dynamics of the animals. The analysis of these behavioural changes allows the identification of new indicators and the negative or positive impact of these environmental changes on animal welfare. The integration of sensor technologies, mathematical models and artificial intelligence opens new avenues for longitudinal monitoring of activities, spatial dynamics and other parameters of interest throughout an animal's life cycle. For example, supervised classification algorithms have enabled the association of raw sensor data with specific behaviours, while unsupervised algorithms are expected to reveal novel indicators. This article explores the potential opportunities offered by digital technologies. We highlight the role of behavioural assessment in welfare assessment, illustrated by three case studies : (1) discriminating pathological, reproductive or stress conditions in cows, (2) lameness prediction in dairy cows, and (3) the study of emotions in pigs. Finally, we highlight the importance of close interdisciplinary collaboration between ethologists, physiologists, mathematicians and computer scientists to advance this emerging field, which we term'digital ethology.'
Improving the welfare of farm animals, which is essential for the sustainability of livestock farming, raises questions and sometimes heated debates, in particular among livestock farming professionals, researchers, public authorities and citizens. Participatory and co-design approaches, which aim to bring togethera wide range of stakeholders with sometimes divergent positions, to develop knowledge and innovative solutions, are particularly relevant in the field of animal welfare. The emergence of a consensus around a problem, defined and understood by all the stakeholders, and a solution can only be achieved within a framework of trust and mutual listening, for which the facilitator of the process will be the guarantor, and which requires time. Through six illustrative projects, significant benefits have been identified, whether in terms ofawareness and open-mindedness or in terms of proposing operational solutions. The challenges lie in assessing the impact of the solutions developed, in terms of real improvements in animal welfare, and in disseminating these solutions in the field, considering the economic and social dimensions in which they are embedded.
The recognition oftheiremotional lives, cognitive abilities, and a certain form of consciousness in animals under human care has profoundly changed the way their well-being is considered. While it is essential to provide living conditions that meet their behavioural needs, it is equally important to offer stimuli that allow the animal to actively interact with its environment in order to develop its adaptive capacities, particularly through environmental enrichment. Due to the much later recognition of fish as sentient beings compared to terrestrial vertebrates, current knowledge on ways to improve their well-being through environmental enrichment remains fragmented. This issue is becoming a major societal concern due to the growing interest of society and various sectors in fish welfare. This non-exhaustive review aims to present recent research avenues concerning fish under human care, whether for commercial, recreational, conservation, or experimental purposes. Afterdefining what is meant by enrichment, we will discuss the physical, sensory, social, and cognitive enrichment strategies currently being explored, before addressing the limitations of their implementation as well as future perspectives. Fish represent a far greater number of species than terrestrial vertebrates. We will see that while some enrichment strategies show promising potential, much knowledge still needs to be acquired to develop relevant strategies adapted to each species and life stage.
Research into animal welfare, which began in the 1970s with work focusing on stress, has expanded and diversified considerably over the last twenty-five years. Animal welfare has become a major area of research in the animal sciences first and then human and social sciences. Scientific knowledge focuses on understanding the concepts of sentience and welfare in non-human animals, on ways of assessing the welfare of animals and on how to improve it. However, progress towards more animal-friendly farming practices remains limited, despite the increase in scientific knowledge about animal sentience and changes in attitudes towards the animal condition. The adoption of new uses or practices that are more respectful of animals is more often hampered by the cost and changes required to the dominant farming systems. It is essential to step up interdisciplinary research, in particular combining animal sciences with computer sciences, economics, the environment and the human and social sciences, which are crucial to understanding the complexity of animal welfare and its inclusion in the design of sustainable farming systems. Emphasis should also be focused on citizen sciences to facilitate progress that takes into account both the condition of the animals and the quality of working life for the people involved. At the same time, the scientific community needs to become more involved in providing expertise and support to policy-makers in order to support a real societal project and long-term public policies that are more respectful of animals.
Written as part of the One Welfare Mixed Technology Network, the present article explores the representations and implementation of a One Welfare approach through various perspectives: in the literature, by livestock professionals, through conceptual modelling or concrete examples in the pork and poultry sectors, or during educational experiences. One Welfare is a boundary object whose approach brings together actors from different disciplines and institutions with a common goal: to integrate animal welfare, human welfare, and respect for the environment. This article analyses how different studies succeed or fail in integrating the interdependence between these three components. A literature review reveals that the interdependencies between animal and human welfare are increasingly studied, but interactions with the environmental dimension remain marginal. Several models are presented to facilitate dialogue between actors, using graphical representations to simplify the understanding and management ofcomplex systems. Multi-entry approaches on real cases illustrate the search for operational solutions. The educational experiences described promote participation and reflection among learners, which are essential for the development of their projects in a changing world. The expected skills of livestock actors are crucial to meet current challenges. Across all these approaches, One Welfare is seen as a challenge requiring interdisciplinary collaboration to avoid working in silos and to meet societal expectations regarding sustainable agriculture, respect for animals, humans, and the environment.
Farmers face multiple expectations from society, such as preserving the environment and animal welfare, and at the same time having to ensure their economic survival. The aim of this article is to review the state of the art on the relationships between the three dimensions of performance: economic performance, environmental performance, and animal welfare. There is no single overall relationship between the three dimensions, but rather a multitude of relationships between the various indicators that define them. Farming practices and conditions impact these indicators differently, and the cumulative effect of the multiple relationships varies according to the production system. Differences in the choice of indicators and in the production systems may explain the discrepancies in the results of the literature. However, these differences do not invalidate the results as long as they are properly taken into account when interpreting the results and their implications. The results on relationships also diverge according to the level of performance present in the population studied ; there tends to be synergies where the level of performance is still low and antagonisms where the level of performance is already high. In the end, it is not so much the relationships between the dimensions that are important, but rather the means of obtaining good performances in all dimensions concomitantly.
