Voluntary food intake of dry sows fed ad libitum diets containing high levels of unmolassed sugarbeet pulp (SBP) was low in comparison to those fed other high fibre diets (Brouns et al., 1991). It is not known whether this is caused by a taste aversion, or whether physical/metabolic effects during digestion restrict intake. In this experiment the feeding motivation of sows fed SBP diets was determined by measuring their rate of feeding.

Twelve multiparous pregnant sows housed in straw bedded pens, but individually fed in feeding stalls, were used for this experiment. The sows were allocated between two treatments according to their measured rate of eating when given a standard diet on 2 pretrial days. Treatments were 2.3 kg of a diet containing 500g/kg SBP or 2.0 kg of a barley-based diet (C) (Table 1) providing the same total DE. Both diets were fed once a day in pelleted form. Any refusals were recorded to calculate intake.