The use of proteomics to study biomarkers of stress and welfare in farm animals

© Springer International Publishing AG 2018. All rights reserved. Animal welfare and stress are important issues mainly because of public perception, marketing, product acceptance and production efficiency, quality and quantity. They are complex conditions that include physical and psychological stress, as well as the beneficial or deleterious effects that the environment may have on the welfare of the individual. Although a lot has been done in the establishment of protocols to ensure an adequate environment for livestock throughout their lives and their way to the slaughterhouse, there is still a significant lack of information about biological markers that can be easily and objectively measured in the laboratory and can provide information about the biological consequences of suboptimal living conditions in the individual. These biomarkers have to be measured in biological samples that have to fulfil several criteria: they should be easy to obtain, even in a repetitive manner from each individual if necessary, and should mirror the biological processes occurring inside the cells and organs as a consequence of challenging environmental conditions. Proteomics, a technology that allows protein identification in complex samples from a holistic, non-hypothesis-driven approach, is a very suitable method for the search of biomarkers in animal science, including those related to stress and welfare.