Cum laude PhD degree awarded to Allyson Ipema

For four years Allyson studied different ways to provide these larvae to broilers and pigs, with the aim of encouraging foraging behaviour and improving livestock health and emotional state. During this process she was supervised by her promotor Liesbeth Bolhuis (Adaptation Physiology group) and co-promotors Walter Gerrits (Animal Nutrition group) and Eddie Bokkers (Animal Production Systems group). Allyson found that especially live larvae provided in a way that requires time and effort to obtain them caused widespread welfare benefits. Broilers performed more foraging behaviour and became more active, and in some cases, they had fewer leg health problems and were less fearful than controls that did not get larvae. Pigs showed more foraging and less damaging behaviour when live larvae were provided in transparent tubes that needed to be turned around by rooting to get the larvae out.