Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T16:56:43.340Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Eating traits in relation to performance and carcass traits of restrictedly fed group-housed finishing pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

P. J. L. Ramaekers ,
J. W. G. M. Swinkels ,
J. H. Huiskes  and
M. W. A. Verstegen
P. J. L. Ramaekers
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Pig Husbandry, PO Box 83, 5240 AB Rosmalen, The Netherlands
J. W. G. M. Swinkels
Affiliation:
Wageningen Agricultural University, Department of Animal Nutrition, Wageningen, Marijkeweg 40, 6709 PG Wageningen, The Netherlands
J. H. Huiskes
Affiliation:
Research Institute for Pig Husbandry, PO Box 83, 5240 AB Rosmalen, The Netherlands
M. W. A. Verstegen
Affiliation:
Wageningen Agricultural University, Department of Animal Nutrition, Wageningen, Marijkeweg 40, 6709 PG Wageningen, The Netherlands
Get access

Abstract

Seventy-two crossbred barrows (28.7 ± 0.3 kg live weight (LW)) were used to examine whether there is a relation between eating traits, and performance and carcass traits in ad libitum and restrictedly fed group-housed pigs. The experiment included two replicates, each consisting of 36 pigs. From day 1 to 42, all pigs were maintained with free access to a starter diet containing 12.7 MJ metabolizable energy (ME) and 8.2 g ileal apparent digestible lysine per kg. The experimental period was from day 42 (55.9 kg LW) to the end of the experiment (110.2 kg LW). The pigs in treatment 1 were maintained with free access to a high (H) energy diet (13.1 MJ ME and 7.1 g ileal apparent digestible lysine per kg). For pigs in treatments 2 and 3 the daily energy allowance per pig was restricted to 18 MJ ME above the daily energy requirement for maintenance using diet H, and a low (L) energy diet (12.5 MJ ME and 6.7 g ileal apparent digestible lysine per kg), respectively. The weekly measured LW was used to compute the energy requirements for maintenance (M = 0·719 MJ ME × LW (kg)0.63). Daily food intake and eating traits per pig were determined using transponders and an electronic feeding station equipped with an antenna.

Daily energy intake of the ad libitum and restrictedly fed pigs was correlated with growth and lean meat tissue content of the carcass. In the pigs given food ad libitum, daily energy intake was correlated with daily feeder visiting time, time per meal and food intake per meal, but not with number of meals per day and rate of food intake. In the restricted treatments, number of meals per day was correlated with energy intake, but not with lean tissue content of the carcass. In conclusion, number of meals per day explained part of the variation of lean tissue content of the carcass in ad libitum, but not in restrictedly fed group-housed pigs.

Keywords

feeding behaviourpigsrestricted feedingunrestricted feeding
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 68 , Issue 3 , April 1999 , pp. 399 - 405
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council. 1981. The nutrient requirements of pigs. Technical review by an ARC working party. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Farnham Royal, Slough.Google Scholar
Batterham, E. S. and Bayley, H. S. 1989. Effect of frequency of feeding of diets containing free or protein-bound lysine on the oxidation of [14C]lysine or [14C]phenylalanine by growing pigs. British Journal of Nutrition 62: 647–655.Google Scholar
Berberich, R. 1988. Die automatische Wägung wachsender Schweine als element der rechnergestützten Prozeßsteuerung. Ph.D. thesis, University Gießen, Germany. Google Scholar
Bergström, P. J. and Kroeske, D. 1968. Methods of carcass assessment in research on carcass quality in the Netherlands. I. Description of methods. Proceedings of the 9th annual meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Dublin.Google Scholar
Cole, D. J. A., Hardy, B. and Lewis, D. 1972. Nutrient density of pigs diets. In Pig production (ed. Cole, D. J. A.), pp. 243–257. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Day, J. E. L., Kyriazakis, I. and Lawrence, A. B. 1995. The effect of food deprivation on the expression of foraging and exploratory behaviour of growing pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 42: 193–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graves, H.B., Graves, K. L. and Sherrit, G. W. 1978. Social behaviour and growth of pigs following mixing during the growing-finishing period. Applied Animal Ethology 4: 169–180.Google Scholar
Haer, L. C. M. de, Luiting, P. and Aarts, H. L. M. 1993. Relations among individual (residual) feed intake, growth performance and feed intake pattern of growing pigs in group housing. Livestock Production Science 36: 233–253.Google Scholar
Haer, L. C. M.de and Merks, J. W. M. 1992. Patterns of daily food intake in growing pigs. Animal Production 54: 95–104.Google Scholar
Haer, L. C. M.de, Merks, J. W. M., Kooper, H. G., Buiting, G. A. J. and Hattum, J. A. van. 1992. A note on the IVOG®-station: a feeding station to record the individual food intake of group-housed growing pigs. Animal Production 54: 160–162.Google Scholar
Hammell, K. L. and Hurnik, J. F. 1987. Fixed-interval conditioned feed intake in swine and cattle. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 67: 319–325.Google Scholar
Labroue, F., Guéblez, R., Sellier, P. and Meunier-Salaün, M.C. 1994. Feeding behaviour of group-housed Large White and Landrace pigs in French central test stations. Livestock Production Science 40: 303–312.Google Scholar
Lambooij, E. and Merks, J. W. M. 1989. Technique and injection place of electronic identification numbers in pigs. IVO B-report 335, Zeist, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Morrow, A. T. S. and Walker, N. 1994. The behavioural and production responses of finishing pigs to increasing workload to obtain food ad libitum from hopper feeders. Animal Production 59: 125–129.Google Scholar
Nielsen, B. L. 1995. Feeding behaviour of growing pigs: effects of the social and physical environment. Ph.D. thesis, The University of Edinburgh. Google Scholar
Partridge, I. G., Low, A. G. and Keal, H. D. 1985. A note on the effect of feeding frequency on nitrogen use in growing boars given diets with varying levels of free lysine. Animal Production 40: 375–377.Google Scholar
Ramaekers, P. J. L., Huiskes, J. H., Verstegen, M. W. A., Hartog, L. A. den, Vesseur, P. C. and Swinkels, J. W.G. M. 1995. Estimating individual body weights of group-housed growing-finishing pigs using a forelegs weighing system. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 13: 1–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramaekers, P. J. L., Swinkels, J. W. G. M., Huiskes, J. H., Verstegen, M. W. A., Hartog, L. A. den and Peet-Schwering, C. M. C.van der. 1996. Performance and carcass traits of individual pigs housed in groups as affected by ad libitum and restricted feeding. Livestock Production Science 47: 43–50.Google Scholar
Robert, S., Matte, J. J. and Girard, C. L. 1991. Effect of feeding regimen on behavior of growing-finishing pigs supplemented or not supplemented with folie acid. journal of Animal Science 69: 4428–4436.Google Scholar
Slader, R. W. and Gregory, A. M. S. 1988. An automatic feeding and weighing system for ad libitum fed pigs. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 3: 157–170.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. and Cochran, W. G. 1980. Statistical methods, seventh edition. Iowa State University Press, Ames, IA.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis Systems Institute. 1989. SAS/STAT® user’s guide, version 6, fourth edition, volume 2. Statistical Analysis Systems Institute, Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Verstegen, M. W. A., Hel, W.van de, Brandsma, H. A. and Kanis, E. 1982. Heat production in groups of growing pigs as affected by weight and feeding level. Proceedings of the 9th symposium on energy metabolism of farm animals, Lillehammer, Norway. European Association for Animal Production publication no. 29, pp. 218–221.Google Scholar
Zhang, W., Huiskes, J. H. and Ramaekers, P. J. L. 1993. Serial ultrasonic measurements of backfat thickness in growing-finishing pigs. I. Location determination of serial ultrasonic measurements. Pig News and Information 14: 173N–176N.Google Scholar