Comparison of performance, water intake and feeding behaviour of weaned pigs given either pellets or meal

Performance, water intake and feeding behaviour of two groups of 30 (trial 1), 40 (trial 2) or 50 (trial 3) weaned pigs offered either pellets ol meal of the same formulation were compared. Average daily weight gains (ADG) were higher for pigs given pellets rather than meal in trials 2 (413 v. 363 g/day P < 0.001) and 3 (356 v. 324 g/day, P < 0.05). Mean daily water intake (DWI) was higher with meal than with pe llets but only during trial 1 (2.31 y. 1.65 l/day, P < 0.01). The occupation time (OT) and the number of animals using the feeder simulta neously (N) were higher when pigs were given meal rather than pellets, what ever the animal density: trial 1: 82.6 v. 69.9% (P = 0.05) and 3.8 v. 2.3 ( P < 0.01); trial 2: 90.9 v. 77.9% (P > 0.05) and 5.2 v. 3.1 (P < 0.01); tri al 3: 96.2 v. 83.6% (P < 0.05) and 5.9 v. 3.8 (P < 0.01). When using pellet s, OT and N were always significantly lower during the night than during th e day but when using meal in groups of 40 and 50, OT during the night was a lmost as high as during the day. The greater the group size, the lower were ADG (both diets) and DWI (only w ith meal) and the higher were OT and N (both diets). Furthermore, significa nt linens and curvilinear regressions of DWI, OT and N according to time we re calculated. In conclusion, pigs need more time to eat meal than to eat pellets. Thus th e number of pigs per feeder has to be adapted to the food presentation. Too high number of pigs per feeder impairs feeding behaviour and eventually we lfare, by preventing preferential diurnal feeding activity and this may aff ect productivity.