Standard Operating Procedures for Better Pig Research (SOPig)

Pig research is facing a growing demand for robust, reproducible, and welfare-conscious data, which promotes increases in collaboration among researchers worldwide to improve research quality. At the heart of this effort lies standardisation-ensuring that experimental procedures are consistent, transparent, and aligned with best practices.

This Open Access book presents the outcome of a major initiative within the EU Horizon 2020 PIGWEB project, where multiple experts working at institutions throughout Europe collaborated on a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for commonly used methods in pig research. Each SOP is a step-by-step guide, detailing recommended materials, equipment, and procedures, while emphasising refinements and non-invasive alternatives in line with the 3R principles of Replacement, Reduction and Refinement.

Covering a wide range of disciplines in animal science, the book includes protocols for:
- Blood, urine and saliva sampling for metabolic and hormonal analysis
- Faeces collection for digestibility studies
- Thermographic and spectroscopic methods for physiological assessments
- Imaging techniques for determining body and carcass composition

With its easy-to-follow format, comprehensive illustrations, example data collection and analysis spreadsheets and practical recommendations, this book serves as both a learning resource and a reference tool for researchers, technicians, and students. By promoting harmonised procedures across facilities, it supports data comparability, animal welfare, and the advancement of pig research globally. Whether setting up a new experiment or striving for reproducibility in collaborative projects, this book is an essential guide to standardised, ethical, and innovative pig research.