Karine Germain
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Karine Germain

Karine Germain

Ingénieure de recherche

Formation et carrière:

  • Depuis 2026 : Rattachement à l’équipe CEB de l’UMR Physiologie de la Reproduction & des Comportements (UMR PRC), INRAE/CNRS/Université de Tours/IFCE
  • Depuis 2025 : Co-animatrice du groupe filière avicole INRAE
  • Depuis 2024 : Référente à la Commission Nationale des Unités Expérimentales (CNUE), INRAE
  • 2012-2025 : Directrice de l’unité expérimentale Système d’élevage avicole alternatif (UE EASM), INRAE, Le Magneraud (17)
  • 2007 : Doctorat en Science de la vie de l’université de Poitiers
  • 2002 : Ingénieur agronome, à l’ENSA de Rennes, Spécialité : sciences et techniques animales

Activités:

Mes travaux portent sur la volaille, et plus particulièrement sur les systèmes d’élevage avicole alternatifs. Ils visent à identifier de nouveaux indicateurs de bien-être animal fondés sur l’expression de comportements positifs, ainsi qu’à étudier des pratiques d’élevage innovantes favorables au bien-être. Mon approche « système » permet d’appréhender le bien-être animal de manière globale, dans des conditions proches du terrain, en intégrant les différentes dimensions de l’élevage. En lien étroit avec les acteurs de la filière avicole, l’objectif est de co-construire des solutions concrètes favorisant le bien-être animal. Mon expertise est sollicitée dans le cadre de l’évaluation de travaux et de projets de recherche, auprès d’institutions et de filières professionnelles. Je suis également membre de l’Unité Mixte Technologique BECOME (INRAE/ITAVI/SYSAAF), dédiée à l’élevage des volailles et à leur bien-être, ainsi que d’un groupe de travail consacré à la conception d’une grille d’évaluation du bien-être des oiseaux pour les unités expérimentales INRAE.

 

HAL : Dernières publications

  • [hal-04914388] Performance, meat quality and blood parameters in four strains of organic broilers differ according to range use

    Chicken meat production in organic systems involves free-range access where animals can express foraging and locomotor behaviours. These behaviours may promote outdoor feed intake, but at the same time energy expenditure when exploring the outdoor area. More generally, the relationship of range use with metabolism, welfare including health, growth performance and meat quality needs to be better understood. We studied four strains of intermediate (JA757) to slow-growing (S757N, White Bresse and a dual-purpose strain) meat-type chickens with outdoor access. We selected 25 males high- (HR) and low-rangers (LR) per strain. Only in JA757, HR exhibited lower body weight before range access, which may have predisposed them to use the range more. Carcass weight and/or carcass yield were significantly lower in HR compared to LR, showing a negative trade-off between range use and growth performance in all strains. Breast meat yellowness was higher in HR compared to LR in JA757 and the dual-purpose strain, probably due to carotenoids intake from the grass. No relationship between range use and welfare indicators at slaughter was reported whatever the strain. Chicken metabolism differed by range use as HR and LR diverged for blood biomarkers of oxidative and metabolic status, immune and inflammatory system response.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Claire Bonnefous) 27 Jan 2025

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04914388v1
  • [hal-04699728] L’élevage de poulets biologiques : les verrous à lever et les opportunités offertes par cette production

    La France est actuellement au premier rang des productions européennes de poulets biologiques. Cette production ne représente toutefois encore que quelques pourcents de la production nationale. L’élevage avicole biologique est souvent considéré comme respectueux du bien-être animal et de l’environnement. Cependant, au-delà de ces images positives que l’élevage avicole biologique et les produits biologiques véhiculent, certaines contraintes déjà identifiées limitent leur développement. Le contact avec la faune sauvage présentant un risque sanitaire, la gestion du parcours, les tensions sur l’environnement dues à une excrétion des déjections sur le parcours difficilement maîtrisable et la sensibilité au contexte économique et aux comportements de consommation sont autant d’obstacles. L’élevage biologique offre néanmoins des opportunités 1) pour l’animal : le parcours facilite l’expression de nombreux comportements et permet la consommation d’insectes et de plantes possédant diverses propriétés (nutritionnelle, médicinales…) ; 2) pour l’éleveur : une amélioration des conditions de travail ainsi qu’une plus grande satisfaction sont mises en avant ; 3) pour l’environnement : le parcours constitue une source de biodiversité. Après une présentation des conditions d’élevage des poulets biologiques en France et en Europe, nous proposons d’identifier les barrières à l’extension de l’élevage biologique et les leviers/opportunités pour les dépasser.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Karine Germain) 17 Sep 2024

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04699728v1
  • [hal-04052261] Behavioural indicators of range use in four broiler strains

    Free-range systems provide an outdoor range for broilers to give them the possibility to express a higher frequency and a wider range of behaviours, such as exploration, compared with those raised indoors. Greater variability in outdoor range use between individuals of the same flock is often reported. Individual variation in range use may result from differences in early-life behaviour or genetic background. Understanding how earlylife behaviour influences range use may provide opportunities to enhance and predict range use. Previous studies have shown that range use could be influenced by the animal’s personality traits such as social motivation, boldness and foraging motivation. Therefore, this study investigated personality traits in several broiler strains, namely Hubbard JA757, Hubbard S757N, White Bresse and a dual-purpose strain; we examined the latter as it represents a potential solution to the ban of 1-day-old chick culling. The present study also investigated early-life behaviours, before range access, of range use to identify and assess the stability of these early-life indicators among the four broiler strains. For that purpose, we recorded the behaviour and range use of 100 male chickens per strain, both in the barn and during individual tests, before and after range access. We examined which behaviours were time consistent, whether early-life behaviours were influenced by genetic variation and whether early-life behavioural indicators predicted range use regardless of genetic variation. There was a significant (p < 0.001) difference between strains in several early-life behaviours, including the time spent resting or standing. Range use was time consistent regardless of the strain as our range use indicator followed a high-quality linear regression model (R2 > 0.7) for 82–99% of the individuals depending on their strain. Besides, time consistency of social motivation and boldness seemed to depend on the strain. Even though foraging showed low (rho = 0.2–0.4) positive correlations with range use in three of the four studied strains, there were no significant and strong correlations in the four studied strains between early-life behavioural indicators and range use. In conclusion, our results show that the link between chick behaviour (before range access) and range use can be modulated by the bird’s strain. It is crucial to consider all these different factors to better understand how range use varies within and between flocks.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Claire Bonnefous) 30 Mar 2023

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04052261v1
  • [hal-03627159] Foraging Behavior Shows Individual-Consistency Over Time, and Predicts Range Use in Slow-Growing Free-Range Male Broiler Chickens

    Recent research on free-range chickens shows that individual behavioral differences may link to range use. However, most of these studies explored individual behavioral differences only at one time point or during a short time window, assessed differences when animals were out of their social group and home environment (barn and range), and in specific tests or situations. Therefore, it is yet unclear how different behaviors relate to range use and how consistent these behaviors are at the individual level. To fill this gap, we here aimed to describe the behavioral budget of slow-growing male broiler chickens (S757N) when in their social group and home environment during the whole rearing period (from the second week of life to the twelfth week, before slaughter), and to relate observed behavioral differences to range use. For this, we followed a sample of individuals in two flocks ( n = 60 focal chickens out of 200 chickens per flock), over two seasons, during three periods: before range access (from 14 to 25 days old), during early range access (first weeks of range access, from 37 to 53 days old), and during late range access (last weeks of range access, from 63 to 87 days old). By the end of each period, individual tests of exploration and social motivation were also performed, measuring exploration/activity and sociability propensities. Our results show that foraging (i.e., pecking and scratching at the ground) was the only behavior that correlated to range use for all three rearing periods, independent of the season. Foraging was also the only behavior that showed within-individual consistency from an early age and across the three rearing periods. Foraging may, therefore, serve as a useful behavioral predictor of range use in free-range broiler chickens. Our study increases the knowledge of how behaviors develop and relate to each other in a domesticated and intensely selected species, and improves our understanding of the biology of free-range broiler chickens. These findings can, ultimately, serve as a foundation to increase range use and improve chicken welfare.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Vitor Hugo Bessa Ferreira) 03 May 2024

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03627159v1
  • [hal-03448777] Microbiota and stress: a loop that impacts memory

    Chronic stress and the gut microbiota appear to comprise a feed-forward loop, which contributes to the development of depressive disorders. Evidence suggests that memory can also be impaired by either chronic stress or microbiota imbalance. However, it remains to be established whether these could be a part of an integrated loop model and be responsible for memory impairments. To shed light on this, we used a two-pronged approach in Japanese quail: first stress-induced alterations in gut microbiota were characterized, then we tested whether this altered microbiota could affect brain and memory function when transferred to a germ-free host. The cecal microbiota of chronically stressed quails was found to be significantly different from that of unstressed individuals with lower α and β diversities and increased Bacteroidetes abundance largely represented by the Alistipes genus, a well-known stress target in rodents and humans. The transfer of this altered microbiota into germ-free quails decreased their spatial and cue-based memory abilities as previously demonstrated in the stressed donors. The recipients also displayed increased anxiety-like behavior, reduced basal plasma corticosterone levels and differential gene expression in the brain. Furthermore, cecal microbiota transfer from a chronically stressed individual was sufficient to mimic the adverse impact of chronic stress on memory in recipient hosts and this action may be related to the Alistipes genus. Our results provide evidence of a feed-forward loop system linking the microbiota-gut-brain axis to stress and memory function and suggest that maintaining a healthy microbiota could help alleviate memory impairments linked to chronic stress.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Narjis Kraimi) 18 Jan 2022

    https://hal.science/hal-03448777v1
  • [hal-03140110] Range use is related to free-range broiler chickens’ behavioral responses during food and social conditioned place preference tests

    Free-range broiler chickens usually show an uneven spatial utilization of an outdoor range. Due to behavioral and cognitive between-individual differences, some animals may be driven to associate food and conspecifics more strongly to the barn, causing them to be less prone to explore the range. In this study, we aimed to understand how broiler chickens with different ranging levels (low- and high-ranging chickens) would behave under conditioned place preference (CPP) test situations. We used two cohorts conditioned to two natural rewarding stimuli: food and social companions. In a two-chambered apparatus, one cohort (n = 31, 16 high-ranging, and 15 low-ranging chickens) was conditioned to one chamber that always contained a cup with a food reward (mealworms), while the cup in the other chamber was always empty. The same design was also used with the second cohort (n = 31, 15 high-ranging and 16 low-ranging chickens), although instead of food, the reward was the physical presence of two conspecifics. During the testing trials, the animals had access to both empty chambers, and the time spent in each chamber was quantified. For the first day of the food CPP test, both the high- and low-ranging chickens spent significantly more time in the conditioned chamber, where they had previously found mealworms. During the following extinction days, the animals showed a gradual loss of their learned preference, increasing their immobility in the apparatus. High-ranging chickens were more immobile than low-ranging chickens, however, as their number of trials without moving was significantly higher. Unexpectedly, during the first day of the social CPP test, only high-ranging chickens showed a place preference. An overall place preference was observed only on the second day, with no chamber preference during the extinction days. Our results suggest that whether and how a stimulus-reward association occurs for free-range chickens may also be dependent on individual differences and the nature of the reward (food or social). Since associative learning occurs on a daily basis for farmed animals and the way individuals learn or value the reward varies, this research advanced our knowledge of animal behavior and individual cognitive differences that can be highly beneficial in improving animals' living conditions; this new understanding will allow for a more individualized approach to rearing broiler chickens in outdoor systems.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Vitor Hugo Bessa Ferreira) 22 Aug 2022

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03140110v1
  • [hal-03140125] Social motivation and the use of distal, but not local, featural cues are related to ranging behavior in free-range chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus)

    Animals can navigate an environment relying on different sources of information, such as geometrical or featural cues. The favoring of one type of information over another depends on multiple factors, such as inter-individual differences in behavior and cognition. Free-range chickens present different range use patterns, which may be explained by behavioral and cognitive differences. However, how behavior, cognition, and range use intercorrelate is still poorly understood. In this work, we aimed to further understand possible differences in behavior and cognition between two groups of free-range broiler chickens: those who frequently explore their range ('high rangers') and those who prefer to stay in or near the barn ('low rangers'). Prior to range access, individual behavior was measured in open field-, emergence-, and social motivation tests. To investigate cognitive differences, we analyzed whether exploratory behavior was linked to different performances in the use of distal and local spatial cues during an orientation task. During the social motivation test, low rangers showed a higher inclination to be near conspecifics than did high rangers. Our orientation tests show that chickens preferred to orientate themselves using the local cues over the distal cues. Individual differences were only found for distal, but not for local, cue use suggesting that demanding tasks are more efficient in revealing individual cognitive differences. Our results suggest that considering variation in social motivation may allow a more comprehensive understanding of chicken range use. Our results also support the importance of incorporating multiple aspects of individual differences to understand individual reactions to its environment.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Vitor Hugo Bessa Ferreira) 12 Feb 2021

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03140125v1
  • [hal-02622887] Uninhibited chickens: ranging behaviour impacts motor self-regulation in free-range broiler chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus)

    Inhibiting impulsive, less flexible behaviours is of utmost importance for individual adaptation in an ever-changing environment. However, problem-solving tasks may be greatly impacted by individual differences in behaviour, since animals with distinct behavioural types perceive and interact with their environment differently, resulting in variable responses to the same stimuli. Here, we tested whether and how differences in ranging behaviour of free-range chickens affect motor self-regulation performance during a cylinder task. For this task, subjects must refrain from trying to reach a food reward through the walls of a transparent cylinder and detour to its open sides, as a sign of inhibition. Free-range chickens exhibited an overall low performance in the motor self-regulation task (31.33 +/- 13.55% of correct responses), however, high rangers showed significantly poorer performance than the low rangers (23.75 +/- 9.16% versus 40 +/- 12.90%, respectively). These results give further support to the impacts of individual behavioural differences on cognitive performances. This is the first demonstration to our knowledge of a relationship between exploratory tendencies and motor self-regulation for an avian species.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Vitor Hugo Bessa Ferreira) 26 May 2020

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02622887v1
  • [hal-02629384] Relationship between ranging behavior and spatial memory of free-range chickens

    [...]

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Vitor Hugo Bessa Ferreira) 26 Oct 2021

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02629384v1
  • [hal-02629417] Effects of gut microbiota transfer on emotional reactivity in Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica)

    The interaction between the gut microbiota (GM) and the brain has led to the concept of the microbiota-gut-brain axis but data in birds remain scarce. We tested the hypothesis that colonization of germ-free chicks from a quail line selected for a high emotional reactivity (E+) with GM from a line with low emotional reactivity (E-) would reduce their emotional behaviour in comparison with germ-free chicks from E+ line colonized with GM from the same E+ line. The GM composition analysis of both groups revealed a shift in term of microbial diversity and richness between Day 21 and Day 35 and the GM of the two groups of quails were closer to each other at Day 35 than at Day 21 at a phylum level. Quails that received GM from the E- line expressed a lower emotional reactivity than the quails colonized by GM from the E+line in the tonic immobility and the novel environment tests proceeded during the second week of age. This result was reversed in a second tonic immobility test and an open-field run two weeks later. These behavioural and GM modifications over time could be the consequence of the resilience of the GM to recover its equilibrium present in the E+ host, which is in part driven by the host genotype. This study shows for the first time that a gut microbiota transfer can influence emotional reactivity in Japanese quails strengthening the existence of a microbiota-gut-brain axis in this species of bird.

    ano.nymous@ccsd.cnrs.fr.invalid (Narjis Kraimi) 27 May 2020

    https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02629417v1

Contact:

Karine Germain 
Unité Expérimentale Systèmes d'Elevage Avicoles Alternatifs
St Pierre d'Amilly, France 
Tél: 33 05 46 68 31 41 
Courriel: karine.germain@inrae.fr

Date de modification : 02 avril 2026 | Date de création : 02 avril 2026 | Rédaction : Vitor Ferreira