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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 November 2017
Salt (NaCl) is an essential mineral and its rate of inclusion in diets has been implicated in the development and expression of biting behaviour. Falkowski et al., (1998) found that withholding salt from diets reduced the feed intake and feed conversion ratio of weaned pigs and significantly decreased growth rate. Studies reported by Fraser (1987), suggested that heightened appetite for salt could make pigs particularly attracted to pen mates with injured tails. More recently Tsourgiannis, et al., (2002) reported that 1.5% salt inclusion levels can significantly reduce the incidence of tail-biting, providing that there is unrestricted access to fresh water. This study investigated the effect on growth performance of pigs fed liquid diets containing high and low dietary salt levels for growing/finishing pigs.