Productivity and survival of piglets during their two-phase rearing with a change in the feeding system

Abstract

Our research aimed to establish the productivity of piglets during their two-phase rearing with different durations of the phases of this period of the production cycle. It was established that at the end of the first rearing phase, animals' absolute gains and weight upon its completion depended more on its duration than on the intensity of piglet growth during this period. Thus, in the group where the duration of the first phase of rearing was 17.6 % shorter, the weight of piglets when transferred to the second phase of rearing was 15.0 % lower, while in the group where the duration of the first phase of rearing was 35.3 % shorter, the weight of animals when transferred to the second phase turned out to be 28.3 % smaller, and in the group where the duration of the first phase of rearing was 52.9 % shorter, the weight of piglets at the end of the first phase turned out to be 50.5 % lower. In the second phase of fattening, the intensity of growth in animals with a duration of 9 and 18 days did not have significant differences, while their counterparts with a 27-day duration of the second phase of fattening had average daily gains in the second phase of fattening by 13.7–15.6 % more than the previous groups. The difference in absolute growth depended more on the duration of the period and less on the intensity of growth during this period. Thus, in the group where the duration of the second phase of rearing increased by 17 %, the absolute growth during this time increased by 1.97 times, and with its increase by 35 %, the latter increased by 3.41 times compared to the group of piglets where the duration of the second phase of rearing was 9 days. The live weight of piglets at the end of the second growing phase increased by 4.3 % and 8.5 %, respectively. The preservation of piglets in the second phase of rearing did not have significant differences between groups of piglets with different durations of the second phase of rearing. In contrast, the average weight of piglets dropped out in the second rearing phase decreased by 15.4–33.5%, with an increase in the duration of the second phase from 18 % to 35 and 52 % of the entire growing time. It has been proven that with an increase in the duration of the second phase of rearing, in which liquid feeding of piglets was used by 18 %, 35 %, and 53 % of the entire rearing time, the intensity of growth of piglets increased, and due to which their absolute growth increased by 4.5 %, 10.2 %, and 16.3 %, respectively, the live weight at the transfer to fattening increased by 3.4 %, 7.9 %, and 12.2 %, respectively, the technological waste of piglets decreased by 1.06 %, 1.83 %, and 2.23 %, decreased by 13.7, and 25.8 %, the weight of piglets that were eliminated during the entire period of rearing compared to analogs that had 100 % of the time the first phase of rearing under dry feeding systems.