Livestock Production Science 63 2000 245–253 www.elsevier.com locate livprodsci
Voluntary feed intake and feeding behaviour of group-housed growing pigs are affected by ambient temperature and body
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weight
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N. Quiniou , S. Dubois, J. Noblet
Station de Recherches Porcines , Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, 35590 Saint-Gilles, France
Received 25 September 1998; received in revised form 7 April 1999; accepted 21 June 1999
Abstract
´ The effect of ambient temperature on individual feeding behaviour was studied in six groups of Pietrain
3 Large White barrows. In experiment 1 two groups, ambient temperature varied in a cyclic way from 22 to 12
8C and 12 to 228C with three or four consecutive days at each of the following temperatures: 22, 19, 16, 14 or 12
8C. Similarly, in experiment 2 two groups, temperature varied from 19 to 29
8C and 29 to 198C with three or four consecutive days at 19, 22, 25, 27 or 298C. In both experiments, each group was used over two successive cycles with an initial body weight BW of 37 kg at cycle 1
four pigs per group and 63 kg at cycle 2 three pigs per group. During experiment 3, groups of four pigs were exposed to varying temperatures over one cycle either as in experiment 1 one group or as in experiment 2 one group; their initial BW
was 45 kg. Photoperiod was fixed to 12 h of light. In experiments 1 and 2, neither the daily number of meals 11 nor the rate of feed intake 37 g min were affected by temperature. The daily number of meals was lower at cycle 2 9 vs. 12 at
cycle 1 on average but their size was higher 305 vs. 181 g meal at cycle 1. The feeding pattern was mainly diurnal 62. From individual data obtained at each temperature level and each stage of growth in this study N
5 296, an equation to predict the voluntary feed intake VFI from temperature T, ranging between 12 and 29
8C and body weight BW, ranging
2 2
between 30 and 90 kg is proposed: VFI g d 5 2 1264 1 117T 2 2.40T 1 73.6BW 2 0.26BW 2 0.95T 3 BW RSD 5
329. The present relationship indicates that VFI depends on temperature and body weight with a marked negative effect of high ambient temperatures in heavier pigs.
2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords : Pig; Appetite; Temperature; Feeding behaviour
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1. Introduction
Preliminary results were presented as an abstract at the 32nd Congress of the International Society of Animal Ethology, 21–25
July 1998, Clermont-Ferrand, France.
During the growing period, the voluntary feed
Corresponding author. Tel.: 133-2-9928-5049; fax: 133-2-
intake VFI is influenced by the physiological status
9928-5080.
age, body weight Kanis and Koops, 1990 and the
E-mail address : nobletst-gilles.rennes.inra.fr J. Noblet
1
type of pig breed, sex Fuller et al., 1995; Labroue
On leave from the Institut Technique du Porc, BP 3, 35650 Le
et al., 1995. In addition, environmental factors, such
Rheu, France. Tel.: 133-2-9960-9838; fax: 133-2-9960-9355.
E-mail: nathalie.quiniouitp.asso.fr.
as temperature, affect VFI. According to studies
0301-6226 00 – see front matter
2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. P I I : S 0 3 0 1 - 6 2 2 6 9 9 0 0 1 3 5 - 9
246 N
. Quiniou et al. Livestock Production Science 63 2000 245 –253
available in the literature, the decrease of tempera- ture below the thermoneutral zone is associated with
an increase of VFI and body fatness at slaughter Le Dividich et al., 1985, whereas under warm con-
ditions, the VFI is decreased as well as body fatness Rinaldo and Le Dividich, 1991. However, most of
those results were obtained in conventional types of pigs and would not be applicable to lean types of
pigs as, for instance, no increase of body fatness under cold temperature was reported recently by
Massabie et al. 1996. Furthermore, little infor- mation is available to predict VFI and feeding
Fig. 1. Cyclic variation of temperature 8C over each stage of
behaviour in pigs exposed to different ambient
growth in experiments 1 and 2: - - -, adaptation; ———, measure-
temperatures Nienaber et al., 1990, 1996, especial-
ment.
ly in lean types of pigs. As the chemical composition of the body weight BW gain depends directly on
the intake of nutrients and their digestive and days at each of the following temperatures: 22, 19,
metabolic utilisation by the animals Whittemore and 16, 14 and 12
8C. Groups 3 and 4 were used to study Fawcett, 1976, it is of major interest to investigate
the effect of hot exposure and then exposed to the way that the ambient temperature affects nutrient
ambient temperatures varying from 19 to 29 8C and
utilisation and feeding behaviour in pigs. The aim of from 29 to 19
8C experiment 2 with three or four the present study was to characterise the effects of
consecutive days at each of the following tempera- exposure to cold or hot temperatures on VFI, feeding
tures: 19, 22, 25, 27 and 29 8C. The 19 and 228C
behaviour and energy expenditure of group-housed levels were considered as belonging to the ther-
growing pigs over the growing-finishing period. For moneutral zone of group-housed growing pigs.
this latter purpose, the pigs were studied in a In the second part of the study experiment 3, two
respiratory chamber with a subsequent limited group- additional groups were studied at an intermediary
size. The present paper will focus on VFI and stage of growth and exposed to the same thermic set
components of feeding behaviour. as in experiment 1 group 5 or in experiment 2
group 6; the initial BW of these pigs was 45 kg on average and the group size was four pigs.
2. Materials and methods
