Emerging research on the gut-brain axis in farm animals suggests that gut microbiome health significantly influences emotional states and welfare, with important implications for nutrition and management.
The gut microbiome connection to emotional states and welfare is an emerging frontier in farm animal welfare science. The discovery that gut bacteria influence brain function through multiple pathways opens new dimensions of welfare management: nutrition that supports microbiome diversity may improve emotional states; stress that disrupts microbiome may have welfare effects beyond the immediate stress response; and therapeutic interventions including probiotics may offer novel welfare tools. While this field is in its early stages for farm animals, the underlying biology is consistent with what is known in human and rodent research, suggesting that nutritional management for microbiome health may become an important welfare tool.