Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-sxzjt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-23T12:45:18.463Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The relationship between live weight and the intake of bulky foods in pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

E.C. Whittemore ,
G. C. Emmans  and
I. Kyriazakis
Get access

Abstract

Data from pigs between 12 and 120 kg live weight were used to develop a relationship between the capacity for food bulk and live weight. High bulk foods, intended to limit growth, were offered for 21 days to pigs of 12, 36 (600 g sugar-beet pulp per kg (SBP60)) and 108 (800 g sugar-beet pulp per kg (SBP80)) kg live weight. Control pigs were given a low bulk food C at all weights. After 21 days the pigs were slaughtered and measurements made on the gastro-intestinal tract (GIT). In two additional treatment groups SBP60 was offered from a weight of either 36 kg or 72 kg before SBP80 was offered at 108 kg. Daily live-weight gain, after allowing for the effects of a change of gut fill, was less at all weights on the high bulk foods than on C. At all weights the high bulk foods caused a significant increase in the weights of the stomach, large intestine, caecum and gut fill. Effects on the weight of the small intestine were small. Previous nutrition had no significant effect on the adapted performance, or on the size of the GIT, of pigs given SBP80 at 108 kg but pre-feeding SBP60 significantly increased initial consumption of SBP80. Constrained intake was not directly proportional to live weight beyond 40 kg. The absolute capacity for bulk (Cap, kg water-holding capacity per day) was related to live weight (W, kg) by the quadratic function Cap = (0·192.W) - (0·000299.W2). The value of Cap is predicted to reach a maximum when W = 321 kg. The combined weights of the large intestine and caecum (WLIC) changed with W in ways that were similar to the way in which Cap changed. In addition the ratio of Cap to WLIC was close to constant. The combined weight of the large intestine and the caecum may determine the capacity for food bulk in pigs.

Keywords

bulkfibrefood intakepigs
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , February 2003 , pp. 89 - 100
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2003

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 and Food Research Council. 1990. Nutrient requirements of sows and boars. TCORN advisory booklet. HGM Publications, Bakewell, Derbyshire.Google Scholar
Cole, D.J.A., Hardy, B. and Lewis, D. 1972. Nutrient density of pig diets. In Pig production (ed. Cole, D.J.A.), pp. 243–257. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Emmans, G.C. and Friggens, N.C. 1995. The effects of live weight, and the quality of the feed given previously, on the ad libitum intakes of poor quality hay by sheep of 5 breeds of different mature weights. Annales de Zootechnie 44: (suppl. ) 269.Google Scholar
Goering, H.K. and Van Soest, P.J. 1970. Forage fiber analysis (apparatus, reagents, procedures and some applications). Agricultural handbook no. 379. Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Washington DC.Google Scholar
Houdijk, J.G.M., Verstegen, W.A., Bosch, M.W. and Laere, K.J.M. van. 2002. Dietary fructooligosaccharides and transgalactooligosaccharides can affect fermentation characteristics in gut contents and portal plasma of growing pigs. Livestock Production Science 73: 175–184.Google Scholar
Jorgensen, H., Zhao, X.Q. and Eggum, B.O. 1996. The influence of dietary fibre and environmental temperature on the development of the gastrointestinal tract, digestibility, degree of fermentation in the hind gut and energy metabolism in pigs. British Journal of Nutrition 75: 365–378.Google Scholar
Kennelly, J.J. and Aherne, F.X. 1980. The effect of fibre addition to diets formulated to contain different levels of energy and protein on growth and carcass quality of swine. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 60: 385–393.Google Scholar
Knap, P.W. 2000. Time trends of Gompertz growth parameters in ‘meat-type’ pigs. Animal Science 70: 39–49.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I. and Emmans, G.C. 1992a. The effects of varying protein and energy intakes on the growth and body composition of pigs. 1. The effects of energy intake at constant, high protein intake. British Journal of Nutrition 68: 603–613.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I. and Emmans, G.C. 1992b. The effects of varying protein and energy intakes on the growth and body composition of pigs. 2. The effects of varying both energy and protein intake. British Journal of Nutrition 68: 615–625.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I. and Emmans, G.C. 1995. The voluntary feed intake of pigs given feeds based on wheatbran, dried citrus pulp and grass meal in relation to measurements of feed bulk. British Journal of Nutrition 73: 191–207.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I. and Emmans, G.C. 1999. Voluntary feed intake and diet selection. In A quantitative biology of the pig (ed. Kyriazakis, I.), pp. 229–248. CABI Publishing, Wallingford.Google Scholar
Low, A.G. 1985. Role of dietary fibre in pig diets. In Recent advances in animal nutrition (ed. Haresign, W. and Cole, D.J.A.), pp. 87–112. Butterworths, London Google Scholar
McDonald, D.E., Pethick, D.W., Mullan, B.P. and Hampson, D.J. 2001. Increasing viscosity of the intestinal contents alters small intestine structure and intestinal growth, and stimulates proliferation of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli in newly-weaned pigs. British Journal of Nutrition 86: 487–498.Google Scholar
Minitab. 1992. Minitab for windows, release 11·1. Minitab Inc., USA.Google Scholar
Owen, J.B. and Ridgman, D. 1967. The effect of dietary energy content on the voluntary intake of pigs. Animal Production 9: 107–114.Google Scholar
Owen, J.B. and Ridgman, D. 1968. Further studies of the effect of dietary energy content on the voluntary intake of pigs. Animal Production 10: 85–91.Google Scholar
Pluske, J.R., Pethick, D.W. and Mullan, B.P. 1998. Differential effects of feeding fermentable carbohydrate to growing pigs on performance, gut size and slaughter characteristics. Animal Science 67: 147–156.Google Scholar
Robertson, J.A. and Van Soest, P.J. 1977. Dietary estimation in concentrate animal feedstuffs. Journal of Animal Science 54: (suppl. 1) 254–255.Google Scholar
Stanogias, G. and Pearce, G.R. 1985. The digestion of fibre by pigs. 3. Effects of the amount and type of fibre on physical characteristics of segments of the GIT. British Journal of Nutrition 53: 537–548.Google Scholar
Stebbens, H.R. 1988. The digestion and utilisation of food fibre by growing pigs. Ph. D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Tsaras, L.N., Kyriazakis, I. and Emmans, G.C. 1998. The prediction of the voluntary food intake of pigs on poor quality foods. Animal Science 66: 713–723.Google Scholar
Varel, V.H. 1987. Activity of fiber-degrading microorganisms in the pig large intestine. Journal of Animal Science 65: 488–496.Google Scholar
Wenk, C. 2001. The role of dietary fibre in the digestive physiology of the pig. Animal Feed Science and Technology 90: 21–33.Google Scholar
Whittaker, X., Edwards, S.A., Spoolder, H.A.M., Corning, S. and Lawrence, A.B. 2000. The performance of group-housed sows offered a high fibre diet ad libitum. Animal Science 70: 85–93.Google Scholar
Whittemore, E.C., Emmans, G.C. and Kyriazakis, I. 2002. The problem of predicting food intake during the period of adaptation to a new food: a model. British Journal of Nutrition In press.Google Scholar
Whittemore, E.C., Emmans, G.C., Tolkamp, B.J. and Kyriazakis, I. 2001a. Tests of two theories of food intake using growing pigs. 2. The effect of a period of reduced growth rate on the subsequent intake of foods of differing bulk content. Animal Science 72: 361–374.Google Scholar
Whittemore, E.C., Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G.C. and Tolkamp, B.J. 2001b. Tests of two theories of food intake using growing pigs. 1. The effect of ambient temperature on the intake of foods of differing bulk content. Animal Science 72: 351–360.Google Scholar
Wiseman, J., Redshaw, M.S., Jagger, S., Nute, G.R., Whittington, F.W. and Wood, J.D. 1999. Influence of type and dietary rate of inclusion of non-starch polysaccharides on skatole content and meat quality of finishing pigs. Animal Science 69: 123–133.Google Scholar
Yin, Y.L., Baido, S.K., Boychuk, J.L.L. and Simmins, H.H. 2001. Performance and carcass characteristics of growing pigs and broilers fed diets containing micronised barley, ground barley, wheat and maize. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 81: 1487–1497.Google Scholar