Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T23:10:59.048Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The performance of group-housed sows offered a high fibre diet ad libitum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

X. Whittaker ,
S. A. Edwards ,
H. A. M. Spoolder ,
S. Corning  and
A. B. Lawrence
X. Whittaker
Affiliation:
ADAS Terrington, Terrington St Clement, King’s Lynn PE34 4PW Animal Biology Division, Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
S. A. Edwards*
Affiliation:
Animal Biology Division, SAC, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA
H. A. M. Spoolder*
Affiliation:
ADAS Terrington, Terrington St Clement, King’s Lynn PE34 4PW
S. Corning*
Affiliation:
ADAS Terrington, Terrington St Clement, King’s Lynn PE34 4PW
A. B. Lawrence
Affiliation:
Animal Biology Division, Scottish Agricultural College, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
*
†Present address: Department of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, MacRobert Building, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB24 5UA (corresponding author)
‡Praktijkonderzoek Varkenshouderij, Postbus 83, 5240 AB Rosmalen, The Netherlands.
§PIC UK, Fyfield Wick, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX13 5NA.
Get access

Abstract

As a part of a study investigating the extent to which ad libitum feeding of a high fibre diet could mitigate behavioural problems associated with food restriction, the performance of sows given food at restricted or ad libitum levels was compared. Ten subgroups of five were allocated to each of the restricted (R) and ad libitum (A) feeding regimes. Five weeks after service, subgroups were introduced into one of two dynamic groups of sows housed in adjacent straw-bedded pens. R sows received a fixed daily ration (parity 1: 2·2 kg; parity 2: 2·4 kg) of a conventional pregnancy diet (13·1 MJ digestible energy per kg) from an electronic sow feeder. Sows on the A regime had unrestricted access to five single-space hoppers dispensing a high fibre diet (containing 600 g unmolassed sugar beet pulp per kg). Subgroups were maintained on these gestation feeding regimes for two consecutive parities. During both parities, A sows were heavier by day 50 of gestation (parity 1: P < 0·05; parity 2: P < 0·01) and at farrowing (parity 1: P < 0·001; parity 2: P < 0·001) than R sows. No difference was found between feeding regime in sow weight at weaning, due to a greater weight loss during lactation of A (parity 1: P < 0·001; parity 2: P < 0·001) than R sows. No difference was found between feeding regime in sow backfat thickness, sow reproductive performance or litter performance in either parity. This suggests that unmolassed sugar beet pulp diets may be used to feed sows on an ad libitum basis during gestation without compromising productivity. However, food intakes may be too high (estimated at 4·1 kg per sow per day) to make ad libitum feeding of pregnant sows an attractive option for producers.

Keywords

feedingfibrepigsreproductive performance
Type
Non-ruminant nutrition, behaviour and production
Information
Animal Science , Volume 70 , Issue 1 , February 2000 , pp. 85 - 93
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2000

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

Appleby, M. C. and Lawrence, A.B. 1987. Food restriction as a cause of stereotypie behaviour in tethered gilts. Animal Production 45: 103–110.Google Scholar
Baker, D. H., Harmon, B. G. and Jensen, A. H. 1974. Value of alfalfa meal and wheat bran in diets for swine during prefarro wing and lactation. Journal of Animal Science 39: 838–840.Google Scholar
Broom, D. M. and Potter, M. J. 1984. Factors affecting the occurrence of stereotypies in stall-housed dry sows. Proceedings of the international congress on applied ethology in farm animals, Kiel, Darmstadt (ed. Unshelm, J. van Putten, G. and Zeeb, K.), pp. 229–231.Google Scholar
Brouns, F. and Edwards, S. A. 1994. Social rank and feeding behaviour of group-housed sows fed competitively or ad libitum. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 39: 225–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brouns, F., Edwards, S. A. and English, P. R. 1994a. Metabolic effects of fibrous ingredients in pig diets. Animal Production 58: 467 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Brouns, F., Edwards, S. A. and English, P. R. 1994b. Effect of dietary fibre and feeding system on activity and oral behaviour of group housed gilts. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 39: 215–223.Google Scholar
Brouns, F., Edwards, S. A. and English, P. R. 1995. Influence of fibrous ingredients on voluntary intake of dry sows. Animal Feed Science and Technology 54: 301–313.Google Scholar
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. Animal Science 65: 129–133.Google Scholar
Carter, D. I., Crenshaw, J. D., Swantek, P. M., Harrold, R. L. and Zimprich, R. C. 1987. The effect of fiber intake by gravid swine during three consecutive parities on sow and litter performance. Journal of Animal Science 65: (suppl.) 89.Google Scholar
Close, W. H., Pettigrew, J. E., Sharpe, C. E., Keal, H. D. and Harland, J. I. 1990. The metabolic effects of feeding diets containing sugar-beet pulp to sows. Animal Production 50: 559–560 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Cole, D. J. A. 1990. Nutritional strategies to optimize reproduction in pigs. Journal of Reproduction and Fertility, Supplement 40: 67–82.Google ScholarPubMed
Cronin, G. M., Tartwijk, J. M. F. M.van, Hel, W. van der and Verstegen, M. W. A. 1986. The influence of degree of adaptation to tether-housing by sows in relation to behaviour and energy metabolism. Animal Production 42: 257–268.Google Scholar
Danish Pig Producers. 1992. Annual report, The National Committee for Pig Breeding, Health and Production, Denmark.Google Scholar
Danish Pig Producers. 1994. Annual report, The National Committee for Pig Breeding, Health and Production, Denmark.Google Scholar
Day, J. E. L., Kyriazakis, I. and Lawrence, A. B. 1996. The use of second-order schedule to assess the effect of food bulk on the feeding motivation of growing pigs. Animal Science 63: 447–455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dourmad, J. Y., Etienne, M., Prunier, A. and Noblet, J. 1993. The effect of energy and protein intake of sows on their longevity. Proceedings of the 44th annual meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Aarhus, Denmark.Google Scholar
Edwards, S. A., Brouns, F. and Stewart, A. H. 1993. Influence of feeding system on the welfare and production of group housed sows. Livestock environment IV Fourth international symposium of the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, University of Warwick, Coventry, England, pp. 166–172.Google Scholar
Edwards, S. A., Taylor, A. G. and Fowler, V R. 1991. Effects of high inclusion levels of sugar beet pulp in diets for dry sows. Animal Production 52: 598 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Everts, H. 1991. The effect of feeding different sources of crude fibre during pregnancy on the reproductive performance of sows. Animal Production 52: 175–184.Google Scholar
Fraser, D. 1975. The effect of straw on the behaviour of sows in tether stalls. Animal Production 21: 59–68.Google Scholar
GENSTAT 5 . 1993. GENSTAT 5 reference manual. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Hansen, L. L., Hagelsø, A. M. and Madsen, A. 1982. Behavioural results and performance of bacon pigs fed “ad libitum” from one or several self-feeders. Applied Animal Ethology 8: 307–333.Google Scholar
Houwers, H. W. J., Berg, J. V. van den and Haaksma, J. 1997. Vrije opname van perspulp silage door zeugen in groepshuisvesting [Voluntary intake of sugar beet pulp silage by sows in group housing]. Dienst Landbouwkundig Onderzoek, Instituut voor Milieu-en Agritechniek, rapport 97–09, Juli 1997.Google Scholar
Kay, R. M., Done, S. H. and Paton, D. J. 1994. Effect of sequential porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome and swine influenza on the growth and performance of finishing pigs. Veterinary Record 135: 199–204.Google Scholar
Lawrence, A. B. and Terlouw, E. M. C. 1993. A review of behavioral factors involved in the development and continued performance of stereotypie behaviors in pigs. Journal of Animal Science 71: 2815–2825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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.Google Scholar
Matte, J. J., Robert, S., Girard, C. L., Farmer, C. and Martineau, G.-P. 1994. Effect of bulky diets based on wheat bran or oat hulls on reproductive performance of sows during their first two parities. Journal of Animal Science 72: 1754–1760.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
MiNiTAB Inc. 1993. MINITAB reference manual. Sowers Printing Company, Lebanon, PA.Google Scholar
Morrow, A. T. S. and Walker, N. 1994. Effects of number and siting of single-space feeders on performance and feeding behaviour of growing pigs. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 122: 465–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mroz, Z., Partridge, I. G., Mitchell, G. and Keal, H. D. 1986. The effect of oat hulls, added to the basal ration for pregnant sows, on reproductive performance, apparent digestibility, rate of passage and plasma parameters. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 37: 239–247.Google Scholar
Noblet, J., Dourmad, J. Y., Etienne, M. and Le Dividich, J. 1997. Energy metabolism in pregnant sows and newborn pigs. Journal of Animal Science 75: 2708–2714.Google Scholar
Noblet, J., Fortune, H., Shi, X. S. and Dubois, S. 1993. Prediction of net energy value of feeds for growing pigs. Journal of Animal Science 72: 344–354.Google Scholar
Petherick, J.C. 1989. Feeding regime and the behaviour of group-housed non-lactating sows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 22: 91 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Robert, S., Matte, J. J., Farmer, C, Girard, C. L. and Martineau, G. P. 1993. High-fibre diets for sows: effects on stereotypies and adjunctive drinking. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 37: 297–309.Google Scholar
Sadler, A. D., Close, W. H. and Perrott, G. 1994. The inclusion of pressed beet pulp in the diet of pregnant sows fed ad libitum during the last 8 weeks of pregnancy. Proceedings of the 45th annual meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Edinburgh, p. 329 (abstr.).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 gastrointestinal tract. British Journal of Nutrition 53: 537–548.Google Scholar
Stewart, A. H., Edwards, S. A., Brouns, F. and English, P. R. 1993. An assessment of the effect of feeding system on the production and social organization of group-housed gilts. Animal Production 56: 422 (abstr.).Google 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
Vestergaard, E.-M. and Danielsen, V. 1998. Dietary fibre for sows: effects of large amounts of soluble and insoluble fibres in the pregnancy period on the performance of sows during three reproductive cycles. Animal Science 67: 355–362.Google Scholar
Walker, N. 1991. The effects on performance and behaviour of number of growing pigs per mono-place feeder. Animal Feed Science and Technology 35: 3–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittaker, X., Edwards, S. A., Spoolder, H. A, M., Lawrence, A. B. and Corning, S. 1999. Effects of straw bedding and high fibre diets on the behaviour of floor fed group-housed sows. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 63: 25–39.Google Scholar
Whittaker, X., Spoolder, H. A. M., Edwards, S. A., Corning, S. and Lawrence, A. B. 1997. The foraging behaviour of ad libitum compared with restricted fed sows housed in dynamic groups. Proceedings of the 31st international congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology, 13-16 August, 1997, Prague, Czech republic, p. 243 (abstr.).Google Scholar
Whittemore, C.T., Smith, W. C. and Phillips, P. 1988. Fatness, live weight and performance responses of sows to food level in pregnancy. Animal Production 47: 123– 130.Google Scholar