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Levels of aggression in floor fed sows: effects of straw bedding and high fibre diets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2021

X. Whittaker ,
S. A. Edwards ,
H. A. M. Spoolder ,
A. B. Lawrence  and
S. Corning
X. Whittaker
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, United Kingdom ADAS Terrington, Terrington, St. Clement, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE34 4PW, United Kingdom
S. A. Edwards
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, United Kingdom
H. A. M. Spoolder
Affiliation:
ADAS Terrington, Terrington, St. Clement, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE34 4PW, United Kingdom
A. B. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh, EH9 3JG, United Kingdom
S. Corning
Affiliation:
ADAS Terrington, Terrington, St. Clement, King’s Lynn, Norfolk PE34 4PW, United Kingdom
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Extract

In competitive feeding systems in which sows are group rather than individually fed, aggression can arise as sows compete for limited supplies of food (Csermely and Wood-Gush, 1990). Aggression may also occur as a result of sows’ motivation to feed remaining unsatisfied due to restricted access to food (Buré, 1991). Feeding sows a high fibre diet which will rapidly increase gastric distention (Brouns et al., 1997) may reduce both the motivation to compete for food and aggression associated with sustained feeding motivation. Sows provided with straw bedding may use straw as a foraging substrate with which to express their foraging behaviour. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the interactive effects of a high fibre diet and straw bedding on levels of aggression in floor fed sows.

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Programme
Information
Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science , Volume 1998 , 1998 , pp. 40
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Science 1998

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References

Brouns, F., Edwards, S. A. and English, P. R. 1997. The effect of dietary inclusion of sugar-beet pulp on the feeding behaviour of dry sows. Anim. Sci., 65: 129–133.10.1017/S1357729800016386CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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