Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-2lccl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T10:25:38.028Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The requirements of weaned piglets for a training period prior to a choice-feeding regime

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

J. A. Dalby ,
J. M. Forbes ,
M. A. Varley  and
S. Jagger
J. A. Dalby
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
J. M. Forbes
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
M. A. Varley
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT
S. Jagger
Affiliation:
Dalgety Agriculture Ltd., 180 Aztec West, Almondsbury, Bristol BS12 4TH
Get access

Abstract

The requirement for a training period prior to a choice feeding regime was assessed using 36 weaned piglets whose initial live weight was 6·2 (s.d. 1·21) kg. Two foods (H and L) were offered ad libitum as the choice and these were similar in energy but differed in crude protein (CP) concentration (291 g/kg and 155 g/kg fresh matter respectively). The pigs ivere subjected to one of three training treatments: treatment ALTERNATE allowed piglets the two foods separately on alternate days for 6 days, followed by a free choice of the two foods; treatment THREE allowed 3 days of one food followed by 3 days of the other prior to the free choice; treatment CHOICE gave the animals free choice immediately. Piglets on a fourth treatment, CONTROL, were given a single food M (242 g CP per kg fresh food) as a control. Weight gain (0·60, 0·59, 0·59 and 0·61 (s.e. 0·005) kg/day) and food intake (0·776, 0·752, 0·771 and 0·747 (s.e. 0·010) kg/day) did not differ significantly between treatments ALTERNATE, THREE, CHOICE and CONTROL respectively in the 19-day post-training period. A significant difference was seen in the protein consumption (0·145, 0·150, 0·139 and 0·177 (s.e. 0·005) kg/day). This together with a tendency for the proportion of food H selected to decline as the growth period progressed, indicated that newly weaned piglets are capable of regulating their protein intake when offered a free choice of two foods differing in their CP concentration, without a necessity for an initial training period.

Keywords

food preferencespigs
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 61 , Issue 2 , October 1995 , pp. 311 - 319
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1995

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

Arnold, G. W. and Mailer, R. A. 1977. Effects of nutritional experience in early and adult life on the performance and dietary habits of sheep. Applied Animal Ethology 3: 5–26.Google Scholar
Beck, M., Hitchock, C. and Galef, B. G. 1988. Diet sampling by wild Norway rats (Rattus norvegicus) offered several unfamiliar foods. Animal Learning Behaviour 16: 224–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradford, M. M. V. and Gous, R. M. 1991a. The response of growing pigs to a choice of diets differing in protein content. Animal Production 52: 185–192.Google Scholar
Bradford, M. M. V. and Gous, R. M. 1991b. A comparison of phase and choice feeding as methods of meeting the amino acid requirements of growing pigs. Animal Production 52: 323–330.Google Scholar
Bradford, M. M. V. and Gous, R. M. 1992. The response of weaner pigs to a choice of foods differing in protein content. Animal Production 55: 227–232.Google Scholar
Chappie, R. S. and Lynch, J. J. 1986. Behavioural factors modifying acceptance of supplementary foods by sheep. Research and Development in Agriculture 3: 113–120.Google Scholar
Close, W. H. 1987. The influence of the thermal environment on the productivity of pigs. In Pig housing and the environment (ed. Smith, A. T. and Lawrence, T. L. J.), occasional publication, British Society of Animal Production, no. 11, pp. 9–24.Google Scholar
Cumming, R. B. and Mastika, I. M. 1987. Why choice feeding trials have failed. Proceedings of the Poultry Husbandry Research Foundation symposium, University of Sydney, pp. 23–29.Google Scholar
Deutsch, J. A., Moore, B. O. and Heinrichs, S. C. 1989. Unlearned specific appetite for protein. Physiology and Behaviour 46: 619–624.Google Scholar
Galef, B. G. and Clark, M. M. 1971. Parent-off spring interactions determine time and place of first ingestion of solid food by wild rat pups. Psychonomic Science 25: 15–16.Google Scholar
Gonyou, H. W., Chappie, R. P. and Frank, G. R. 1992. Productivity, time budgets and social aspects of eating in pigs penned in groups of five or individually. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 34: 291–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gous, R. M., Bradford, M. M. V. and Kobus, G. E. 1989. Choice feeding experiments with growing pigs. In Recent advances in animal nutrition in Australia 1989 (ed. Farrell, D. J.), pp. 147–154. University of New England Publishing Unit, Armidale, Australia.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I. 1989. Growth, feed intake and diet selection in pigs: theory and experiments. Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyriazakis, I. and Emmans, G. C. 1990. The immediate effects of abrupt diet composition changes in young pigs. British Journal of Nutrition 64: 619–623.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G. C. and Whittemore, C. T. 1988. The effect of a prior experience of foods on the diets selected by growing pigs. Animal Production 46: 523 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G. C. and Whittemore, C. T. 1990. Diet selection in pigs: choices made by growing pigs given foods of different protein concentrations. Animal Production 51: 189–199.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G. C. and Whittemore, C. T. 1991. The ability of pigs to control their protein in take when fed in three different ways. Physiology and Behaviour 50: 1197–1203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leung, P. M. B. and Rogers, Q. R. 1986. Effect of amino acid imbalance and deficiency on dietary choice patterns of rats. Physiology and Behaviour 37: 747–758.Google Scholar
Lorenz, K. 1965. Evolution and modification of behaviour. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Lynch, J. J., Keogh, R. G., Elwin, R. L., Green, G. C. and Mottershead, B. E. 1983. Effects of early experience on the post-weaning acceptance of whole grain wheat by fine-wool Merino lambs. Animal Production 36: 175–183.Google Scholar
Nicol, C. J. and Pope, S. J. 1994. Social learning in sibling pigs. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 40: 31–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Provenza, F. D. and Balph, D. F. 1987. Diet learning by domestic ruminants: theory, evidence and practical implications. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 18: 211–232.Google Scholar
Rozin, P. 1976. Selection of food by rats, humans and other animals. In Advances in the study of behaviour vol. 6 (eds Rosenblatt, J. S., Hindle, R. A., Shaw, E. and Beer, C.), pp. 21–76. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar