Daily feeding regimen impacts pig growth and behavior

Abstract

A primary swine production goal is to increase efficiency of lean tissue gains. While many swine production systems currently utilize ad libitum feeding, recent research suggests that altering feeding patterns may impact feed efficiency. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare two feeding patterns and evaluate their impact on whole body tissue accretion, feeding behavior and activity in growing pigs. Forty eight individually housed gilts (55.9±5.2kg on test BW) were assigned into one of two feeding treatments: 1) Free access to the feeder (Free Access) or 2) twice daily access where gilts were allowed to eat ad libitum between 08:00-09:00h and again from 17:00-18:00h (2×). Pig performance was recorded weekly for 55days and average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain:feed (G:F) was calculated. Body composition was assessed in 12 gilts per treatment using dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) at day -3 and 55 of treatment, and tissue accretion rates were calculated. Gilt behaviors were assessed via video analysis during week 7 and included time spent eating, feeding rate, enrichment interaction, postural changes, standing, sitting, and lying behaviors. Gilts fed 2× had lower ADG and ADFI compared to Free Access gilts (P≤0.01); however, no treatment difference in G:F was observed (P=0.83). At day 55 gilts fed 2× had a lower fat:protein compared to Free Access gilts (P=0.05). Fat, lean, and protein accretion rates were lower in gilts fed 2× compared to those fed Free Access (P=0.01). Gilts fed 2× ate less frequently and for a shorter duration of time, interacted with enrichment more frequently (P≤0.005), and tended to have less frequent postural changes compared to Free Access gilts (P=0.08). No treatment differences were observed in duration of time spent standing, sitting, or lying (P≥0.39). Although feed regimen did not alter feed efficiency, these data indicate that twice daily feeding reduced gilt adiposity and growth without altering the pig's behavioral expression of hunger. Therefore, twice daily feeding may be a method of increasing percent of lean tissue without negatively impacting gilt welfare.

Effect of feed restriction and initial body weight on growth performance, body composition, and hormones in male pigs immunized against gonadotropin-releasing factor12

“…Ramaekers et al (1996) also found that restricting diets to 18 MJ ME above the daily energy requirement for maintenance resulted in an increase in lean and a decrease in fat. These results are also supported by Colpoys et al (2016), who in a 7-wk study with gilts allowing the pigs access to the feeder either for 2 periods of 1 h daily (2 times) or ad libitum found that the pigs fed ad libitum had an increased growth rate, increased feed intake (8%), and an increased fat and lean tissue accretion rate compared to those fed twice daily. Davies et al (1980) found that pigs on a high plane of nutrition had more fat than those on a low plane of nutrition.…”

Impact of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae and Lawsonia intracellularis on the performance of pigs divergently selected for feed efficiency

“…Whole body, bone, and lean tissue mass, and fat mass and percentage were provided by the raw DXA scans. Data from the raw DXA output was then adjusted to account for blood volume and gut fill using calibration curves that were built as previously described (Colpoys et al, 2016;Curry et al, 2017). These longitudinal scan data were then used to calculate tissue accretion rates (g/d) from corrected DXA scan results using the following formula: g/d = (corrected final scan measurement -corrected initial scan measurement) days between scans…”

A systemic approach to explore the flexibility of energy stores at the cellular scale: Examples from muscle cells

“…It has been shown that rats trained to eat their daily ration in a minimal time had greater lipogenesis and gained more body fat than nibbling rats (Cohn, 1963). The conclusions will obviously not be valid, if the snacking strategy is associated with greater total feed intake (Colpoys et al, 2016), thus resulting in opposite differences in body composition. In the simulations presented in Fig.…”

“…The feeding strategy is important in animal production, where a primary goal is to increase efficiency of lean tissue gains. Caution must be taken to simply extrapolate results from the cellular scale to the whole-animal level, as other factors such as physical activity, stress, and therefore energy expenditure can affect the results (Colpoys et al, 2016;Le Naou, 2014) that are not accounted for in the present framework. …”