Feed intake behaviour traits were recorded on 210 Large White and 114 Pietr
ain entire male pigs housed in single-breed groups (range of group size: 8-
13) and having 24 h access to 'Acema 48' electronic feed dispensers. Three
stages of growth were considered (average body weights of 39, 64 and 89 kg
for both breeds), and feeding behaviour traits were calculated separately f
or two periods of the day (8-20 h and 20-8 h). Slower-growing and leaner Pi
etrains compared with Large Whites displayed a much lower dairy feed intake
lever (1.72 vs. 2.12 kg, P < 0.001) as well as a different feed intake pat
tern, consisting of much less feeder visits per day (8.8 vs. 15.7, P < 0.00
1), shorter daily eating time (49.7 vs. 55.6 min, P < 0.001), smaller daily
number (5.84 vs. 6.53, P < 0.05) and average size (300 vs. 332 g, P < 0.05
) of meals, and slower rate of feed intake (34.8 vs. 38.1 g.min(-1), P < 0.
01). Average time per meal (9.4 min), however, was not breed-dependent. Bot
h breeds followed similar trends in feeding behaviour over the course of gr
owth, even though the breed by stage of growth interaction was revealed to
be significant for several traits. The nychthemeral distribution of feed in
take was around 70% and 30% feed consumed in the 'daylight' and 'nightly' p
eriods of day, respectively. The percentage of nightly feeding activity sig
nificantly decreased in the second part of the growth period. There were no
ticeable batch (season) and group size effects on most feed intake pattern
traits but not on feed intake level. The latter trait showed a markedly low
er repeatability across the three stages of growth (around 0.30) than the o
ther feeding behaviour traits (0.50-0.60). This study confirms that the fee
d intake pattern of growing pigs is influenced by genetic and environmental
effects and, to a lesser extent, by genotype x environment interaction eff
ects. ((C) Elsevier / Inra).