ABSTRACT The objective was to evaluate the influence of coffee husks as floor covering on the aspects of animal welfare such as behavioral characteristics, body surface temperature, and salivary cortisol levels of stabled boars. Sixteen boars were housed in individual stalls; eight were maintained in a conventional system with a concrete floor and eight were maintained on a concrete floor lined with coffee husks. The experimental period was 60 days. All animals were filmed two days prior to the start of the experiment, on both the 7th and 60th days after exposure to coffee husks, and finally two days after the removal of the material. During this period, the number of times that the animals ate, drank, stood, sat, lay down, and dug was recorded. Furthermore, both body surface temperature and salivary cortisol levels were measured at the beginning and end of the experiment. The use of coffee husks did not influence body surface temperature. Salivary cortisol levels increased during the experimental period only in the animals maintained on coffee husks. In the morning, the coffee husks decreased the number of times that the animals sat and increased the number of times that they lay down. In the afternoon, the use of coffee husks decreased the number of times that the animals stood, sat, or dug and increased the number of times that the animals lay down. Although coffee husks do not change the behavior of the animals in an expressive way, they should not be used as floor covering for boars.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the putative effects of the use of coffee husk as floor covering on boar semen quality. Sixteen boars were divided into two groups. The first group was held in a conventional system with a compact floor. The second group was kept on a compact floor covered with coffee pods. The experimental period was 60 days. Levels of caffeine and chlorogenic acid in the insemination doses (ID) before and after 96 h of storage at 15 °C and the reproductive performance (litter size and rate of return to estrus) of these doses after their utilization in a standard artificial insemination protocol were evaluated. The ID from the animals kept in pens containing the coffee pods contained 25.4±8.7 µg/mL of caffeine, whereas no significant amounts of chlorogenic acid were detected. Semen from boars housed with coffee husk showed a significant increase in malondialdehyde levels, which indicates a significant increase in cell membrane peroxidation, after 96 h of storage. There were no significant differences in the other evaluated semen quality parameters when analyzed among groups. Likewise, there was no significant influence of coffee hulls on either the rate of return to estrus or the litter size of inseminated females. The use of coffee husks as floor covering worsens the quality of fresh semen and that of insemination doses stored for 96 h but not the quality of semen immediately diluted; therefore, coffee husks may be used only on farms that use semen immediately processed after collection without affecting the reproductive parameters of breeding stock.