Nicolas Devillers

Research Scientist in pig behaviour and welfare

2000 College Street Sherbrooke, QC

Current research and/or projects

I'm a research scientist specialised in pig behaviour and welfare. In the last years, my research has mainly focused on the impact of housing and management, including human-animal relationship, on maternal behaviour of lactating sows and social and cognitive development of piglets. I've also worked on the developement of methods for the assessement of welfare of sows and piglets. More recently, I started a research program on alternative production systems, such as pasture-based systems.

Research and/or project statements

Analysis of alternative integrated crop/livestock production systems using life cycle assessment

Model integrated agro-ecological crop/livestock production systems to determine their environmental efficiency, as well as potential levers for improvement, using a life cycle analysis from farm to fork.
Evaluate the efficiency of these alternative production systems and networks by socio-economic analysis at the farm level, but also downstream by considering the processing, transport, storage and distribution of food products.

Potential of outdoor systems as an alternative to pork conventional production:

Survey of economic and technical characteristics of alternative swine production systems
Gestating sow preferences for fresh and dry forages
Value of fresh or dry forage in the feeding of outdoor gestating sows
Sow preference based on forage conservation mode
Impact of different types of farrowing huts on the behaviour and performance of sows and their piglets at pasture
Strategies for managing high temperature at pasture

Impact of early experience with humans on the human-animal relationship in piglets

Development of behavioural tests to assess human reactivity of piglets and a conditioning protocol to associate humans with positive or negative stimuli
Process of human recognition and generalization in piglets following positive and/or negative conditioning
Emotions and cognitive bias in weaned piglets as a result of human experience

Professional activities / interests

Ethology / Animal behaviour
Swine
Alternative production systems
Animal welfare
Maternal behaviour
Agroecology

Key publications

Brajon, S., Laforest, J.P., Schmitt, O., Devillers, N. (2016). A preliminary study of the effects of individual response to challenge tests and stress induced by humans on learning performance of weaned piglets (Sus scrofa). Behavioural Processes, [online] 129 27-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.beproc.2016.05.007
2016 - View publication details
Devillers, N., Giraud, D., Farmer, C. (2016). Neonatal piglets are able to differentiate more productive from less productive teats. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, [online] 174 24-31. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2015.11.018
2016 - View publication details
Dalla Costa, F.A., Devillers, N., Paranhos da Costa, M.J.R., and Faucitano, L. (2015). "Influence of preslaughter feed withdrawal time applied at the farm or at abattoir on behaviour and meat quality in pigs.", 61st International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, Clermont-Ferrand, France, August 23-28, 2015.
2015 - View publication details
Brajon, S., LaForest, J.-P., Schmitt, O., and Devillers, N. (2015). "Positive contact with humans can improve learning performance and emotional states of animals: a study in piglets.", International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ) 2015 conference, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA, July 7- 9, 2015.
2015 - View publication details
Brajon, S., Laforest, J.P., Bergeron, R., Tallet, C., Devillers, N. (2015). The perception of humans by piglets: recognition of familiar handlers and generalisation to unfamiliar humans. Animal Cognition, [online] 18(6), 1299-1316. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10071-015-0900-2
2015 - View publication details
Conte, S., Bergeron, R., Gonyou, H., Brown, J., Rioja-Lang, F.C., Connor, M.L., Devillers, N. (2015). Use of an analgesic to identify pain-related indicators of lameness in sows. Livestock Science, [online] 180 203-208. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2015.08.009
2015 - View publication details
Brajon, S., Laforest, J.P., Schmitt, O., Devillers, N. (2015). The way humans behave modulates the emotional state of piglets. PLoS ONE, [online] 10(8), http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0133408
2015 - View publication details
Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., Saucier, L. (2015). Influence of preslaughter feed withdrawal time applied at the abattoir on carcass microbial quality. Meat Science, [online] 99 143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.07.016
2015 - View publication details
Brajon, S., Laforest, J.P., Bergeron, R., Tallet, C., Hötzel, M.J., Devillers, N. (2015). Persistency of the piglet's reactivity to the handler following a previous positive or negative experience. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, [online] 162 9-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2014.11.009
2015 - View publication details
Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., Guay, F., Saucier, L. (2015). Pre-slaughter strategies to improve pork carcass microbial quality. Meat Science, [online] 99 153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.07.006
2015 - View publication details
Brajon, S., Schmitt, O., LaForest, J.-P., and Devillers, N. (2014). "Chronic positive experience with humans induces optimistic judgement bias in weaned piglets.", 48th Congress of the ISAE, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, July 29-August 2, 2014, pp. 199. (Abstract)
2014 - View publication details
Saucier, L., Faucitano, L., Devillers, N., Talbot, G., and Guay, F. (2014). Des stratégies pour l’amélioration de la qualité de la viande de porc. Final report submitted to MAPAQ, 16 p. (Report)
2014 - View publication details
Devillers, N., Giraud, D., and Farmer, C. (2014). "Neonatal piglets can differentiate more productive from less productive teats.", 12th ISAE North American Regional Meeting, East Lansing, Michigan, USA, May 30-31, 2014, pp. 44. (Abstract)
2014 - View publication details
Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., Guay, F., Gosselin, A., Desjardins, Y., and Saucier, L. (2014). "Pre-slaughter strategies to improve the microbial quality of pork carcasses.", International Union of Microbiological Societies Congress (IUMS 2014), Montréal, QC, Canada, July 27-August 1, 2014.
2014 - View publication details
Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., and Saucier, L. (2014). "Influence of preslaughter feed withdrawal applied either at the farm or at the abattoir on carcass microbial quality.", Canadian Meat Council's 94th Annual Conference, Toronto, ON, Canada, May 7-9, 2014.
2014 - View publication details
Conte, S., Bergeron, R., Gonyou, H.W., Brown, J.R., Lang, F., Connor, L., and Devillers, N. (2014). "Use of a force plate to assess lameness in sows.", Banff Pork Seminar 2014, Banff, AB, Canada, January 21-23, 2014.
2014 - View publication details
Brajon, S., LaForest, J.-P., and Devillers, N. (2014). "Generalization processes of a previous experience to human in weaned piglets.", 12th ISAE North American Regional Meeting, East Lansing, Michigan, USA, May 30-31, 2014, pp. 25. (Abstract)
2014 - View publication details
Conte, S., Bergeron, R., Gonyou, H., Brown, J., Rioja-Lang, F.C., Connor, L., Devillers, N. (2014). Measure and characterization of lameness in gestating sows using force plate, kinematic, and accelerometer methods. Journal of Animal Science, [online] 92(12), 5693-5703. http://dx.doi.org/10.2527/jas.2014-7865
2014 - View publication details
Bovey, K.E., Widowski, T.M., Dewey, C.E., Devillers, N., Farmer, C., Lessard, M., Torrey, S. (2014). The effect of birth weight and age at tail docking and ear notching on the behavioral and physiological responses of piglets, 92(4), 1718-1727. http://dx.doi.org/10.2527/jas.2013-7063
2014 - View publication details
Conte, S., Bergeron, R., Grégoire, J., Gète, M., D'Allaire, S., Meunier-Salaün, M.-C., and Devillers, N. (2014). "On-farm evaluation of methods to assess welfare of gestating sows.", Animal, 8(7), pp. 1153-1161. doi : 10.1017/S1751731114000949
2014 - View publication details