Effects of Long-Term Gentle Handling on Behavioral Responses, Production Performance, and Meat Quality of Pigs
and Jun Bao 1,3,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The manuscript has improved notably from the previous one. Now, it offers a detailed description of the study and of the effects of handling on growth and performance of piglets. Thus, I would recommend acceptance of the paper.
Reviewer 2 Report
The authors have revised the manuscript appropriately and now this can be accepted for publication.
This manuscript is a resubmission of an earlier submission. The following is a list of the peer review reports and author responses from that submission.
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The work presented in the manuscript "Effects of long-term gentle handling on behavioral responses, production performance, and meat quality of pigs", although of interest, is flawed by a deficient design (there is no previous information on the adequacy of the management tools used and its significance in the data considered), a lack of objective measurements on the stress level of the animals and a lack of significant results. Hence, it is not possible to discern whether the results obtained, mainly linked to a lack of significant effects, are biased by the design and the proper study or real.
Reviewer 2 Report
In general, I am happy with this manuscript. The authors have presented a detailed account of an interesting topic and the manuscript after appropriate small-scale revision can be accepted.
Specific comments are below.
Introduction can be abridged.
Details of the assessment scores and parametres for both avoidance and approach should be provided in a table.
For sections 3.2 and 3.3 only brief comments should be given in the text and detailed results should be provided in relevant tables.
A new section 4.4 should be introduced to discuss the findings in view of the relevant EU and USA legislation.
Finally, English language MUST be improved by any means.
