N. Quiniou et al., Voluntary feed intake and feeding behaviour of group-housed growing pigs are affected by ambient temperature and body weight, LIVEST PROD, 63(3), 2000, pp. 245-253
The effect of ambient temperature on individual feeding behaviour was studi
ed in six groups of Pietrain x Large White barrows. In experiment 1 (two gr
oups), ambient temperature varied in a cyclic way from 22 to 12 degrees C a
nd 12 to 22 degrees C with three or four consecutive days at each of the fo
llowing temperatures: 22, 19, 16, 14 or 12 degrees C. Similarly, in experim
ent 2 (two groups), temperature varied from 19 to 29 degrees C and 29 to 19
degrees C with three or four consecutive days at 19, 22, 25, 27 or 29 degr
ees C. 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 (II) 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 (63%). From
individual data obtained at each temperature level and each stage of growt
h in this study (N = 296), an equation to predict the voluntary feed intake
(VFI) from temperature (T, ranging between 12 and 29 degrees C) and body w
eight (BW, ranging between 30 and 90 kg) is proposed: VFI (g/d) = - 1264 117T - 2.40T(2) + 73.6BW - 0.26BW(2) - 0.95T X BW (RSD = 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. (C)
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