Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T12:32:43.407Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Effect of meal frequency and rate of nutrient supply on the post-feeding behaviour of the pig

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

C. A. Morgan ,
A. B. Lawrence ,
E. A. Hunter  and
J. D. Oldham
C. A. Morgan
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Genetics and Behavioural Sciences Department, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0QE
A. B. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Genetics and Behavioural Sciences Department, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0QE
E. A. Hunter
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural Statistics Service, James Clark Maxwell Building, King's Buildings, Edinburgh EH9 3JZ
J. D. Oldham
Affiliation:
Scottish Agricultural College, Genetics and Behavioural Sciences Department, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0QE
Get access

Abstract

There have been suggestions that positive feedback from the meal may stimulate the performance of undesirable behaviour, such as stereotypies, in the post-feeding period. The aim of this work was to measure the short-term effects of a meal on the post-feeding behaviour of the pig.

Pigs (70 kg live weight) were offered food ad libitum for 7 days and then given a restricted food allowance for 23 days (experiment 1) or 14 days (experiment 2). In experiment 1, the food allowance was given in one, two or three meals per day. In experiment 2, the food allowance was given in two meals per day and comprised ingredients which supplied glucose at different rates (starch, glucose/starch, starch/guar gum). The pigs' posture and behaviour were recorded in three 1-h periods during the day on 2 days consecutively during the ad libitum feeding period (time period 1) and on pairs of days on three (periods 2, 3 and 4: experiment 1) or two (periods 2 and 3: experiment 2) subsequent occasions during food restriction. The meal frequency or estimated rate of glucose supply had no significant effects on posture or behaviour. In both experiments activity increased with the duration of food restriction. In periods 1, 2, 3 and 4 of experiment 1 the proportions of observations spent were: standing 0·244, 0·260, 0·706 and 0·728 (s.e.d. 0·0346); nosing 0·073, 0·094, 0·229 and 0·253 (s.e.d. 0·0169); rooting 0·032, 0·037, 0·108 and 0·133 (s.e.d. 0·0133). In periods 1, 2 and 3 of experiment 2 the proportions were: standing 0·247, 0·302 and 0·446 (s.e.d. 0·0240); nosing 0·045, 0·075 and 0·138 (s.e.d. 0·0113); chewing 0·101, 0·126, 0·155 (s.e.d. 0·0121). In experiment 1 feeding rate increased with duration of restriction (P < 0·001), but was unaffected by treatment. It is concluded that post-feeding behaviour was influenced more by long-term changes in state (i.e. prolonged food restriction) than by short-term effects of the meal.

Keywords

behaviourfeeding frequencypigs
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Science , Volume 61 , Issue 3 , December 1995 , pp. 565 - 573
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

Agricultural and Food Research Council. 1990. Technical Committee on Responses to Nutrients, report no. 4. Nutrient requirements of sows and boars. Nutrition Abstracts and Revieivs, Series B. 383–406.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council. 1981. Nutrient requirements of pigs. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Appleby, M. C. and Lawrence, A. B. 1987. Food restriction as a cause of stereotypic behaviour in tethered gilts. Animal Production 4: 103–110Google Scholar
Brouns, F., Edwards, S. A. and English, P. R. 1992. Feeding motivation of sows fed on a sugar-beet pulp diet. Animal Production 54: 486–487Google Scholar
Brouns, F., Edwards, S. A. and English, P. R. 1994. Effect of dietary fibre and feeding system on activity and oral behaviour of group housed gilts. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 39: 215–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duncan, I. J. H., Rushen, J. and Lawrence, A. B. 1993 Conclusions and implications for animal welfare. In Stereotypic animal behaviour (ed. Lawrence, A. B. and Rushen, J.), pp 193–206. CAB International, Wallingford.Google Scholar
Houston, A. and Sumida, B. 1985. A positive feedback model for switching between two activities. Animal Behaviour 33: 315–325.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G. C. and Horgan, G. W. 1994. Food bulk: its measurements and their relationship to the voluntary food intake of pigs. Animal Production 58: 436 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G. C. and Taylor, A. J. 1993. A note on the diets selected by boars given a choice between two foods of different protein concentrations from 44 to 103 kg live weight. Animal Production 56: 151–154.Google Scholar
Lawrence, A. B., Appleby, M. C., Illius, A. W. and Macleod, H. A. 1989. Measuring hunger in the pig using operant conditioning: the effect of dietary bulk. Animal Production 48: 213–220.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, A. B., Appleby, M. C. and Macleod, H. A. 1988. Measuring hunger in the pig using operant conditioning: the effect of food restriction. Animal Production 47: 131–137.Google Scholar
Lawrence, A. B. and Illius, A. W. 1989. Methodology for measuring hunger and food needs using operant conditioning in the pig. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 24: 273–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, A. B. and Terlouw, E. M. C. 1993. A review of behavioural factors involved in the development and continued performance of stereotypic behaviours in pigs. Journal of Animal Science 71: 2815–2825.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, P. A. and Close, W. H. 1987. Bulky feeds for pigs: a consideration of some non-nutritional aspects. Livestock Production Science 16: 395–405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, G. J. 1991. Stereotypies: a critical review. Animal Behaviour 41: 1015–1037.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rerat, A. A., Vaissade, P. and Vaugelade, P. 1984. Absorption kinetics of some carbohydrates in conscious pigs. 1. Qualitative aspects. British Journal of Nutrition 51: 505–515.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roberts, F. G., Low, A. G., Young, S., Smith, H. A. and Ellis, P. R. 1991. The effect of high viscosity guar gum flour on the rate of glucose absorption and net insulin production in the portal blood of the pig. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 50: 72A (abstr.).Google Scholar
Rushen, J. 1985. Stereotypies, aggression and the feeding schedules of tethered sows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 14: 137–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terlouw, E. M. C., Lawrence, A. B. and Illius, A. W. 1991. Influences of feeding level and physical restriction on development of stereotypies in sows. Animal Behaviour 42: 981–991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terlouw, E. M. C., Wiersma, A., Lawrence, A. B. and Macleod, H. A. 1993. Ingestion of food facilitates the performance of stereotypies in sows. Animal Behaviour 46: 939–950.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiepkema, P. R. 1971. Positive feedbacks at work during feeding. Behaviour 39: 266–273.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed