Relationship between residual energy intake and the behaviour of growing pigs from three genetic lines

Lepron, Évelyne; Bergeron, Renée; Robert, Suzanne; Faucitano, L.; Bernier, Jacques; Pomar, C.

doi:10.1016/j.livsci.2006.12.006

Cited by 11 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…This result is consistent with the previously reported lower heat production associated with decreased physical activity in low RFI animals, in laying hens (Luiting et al, 1991), beef cattle (Herd et al, 2004) and pigs (De Haer et al, 1993;Barea et al, 2010;Sadler et al, 2011). Moreover, Lepron et al (2007) reported that the postures and other behaviours partly explained residual ME intake in three pig lines. The lower physical activity in the RFI − line in the present study was mainly related to its lower feeding activity, and a tendency for lower investigation of penmates.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…However, this has been investigated to a lesser extent in pigs. Using experimental paradigms, a line selected for decreased RFI and a control line in Yorkshire gilts (Sadler et al, 2011) or three genetic lines differing for RFI (Lepron et al, 2007) have been compared for their behaviour differences: a lower physical activity was reported in lines showing low RFI. Moreover, Barea et al (2010) described a lower energy expenditure related to decreased physical activity (standing v. lying) in low RFI pigs penned individually in respiration chambers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Divergent selection for residual feed intake in group-housed growing pigs: characteristics of physical and behavioural activity according to line and sex

Meunier-Salaün

Guérin

Billon³

et al. 2014

Animal

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The aim of the study was to assess the impact of selection for residual feed intake (RFI) on the behavioural activity of lines divergently selected for RFI during seven generations. In all, six successive batches from the seventh generation of selection were raised in collective pens equipped with a single-place electronic feeder (SEF) from 10 weeks of age to 100 kg BW. Each batch included four groups of 12 pigs: high RFI (RFI + ) castrated males, RFI + females, low RFI (RFI − ) castrated males, RFI − females. At 17 weeks of age, health criteria were evaluated using a gradient scale for increased severity of lameness, body lesions, bursae and tail biting. Individual behavioural activities were recorded by 24-h video tape on the day after health evaluation. The investigative motivation towards unfamiliar objects was quantified at 18 weeks of age. The daily individual feeding patterns were computed from SEF records during the 4 weeks surrounding 12, 17 and 22 weeks of age. All pigs spent significantly most of their time lying in diurnal (80% of total scan) and nocturnal (>89%) periods. The RFI − pigs showed a lower proportion of health problems ( P < 0.01) than RFI + pigs. The RFI − pigs used the SEF less than the RFI + pigs, in diurnal (5.3% v. 6.4% of video scans, P < 0.05) and nocturnal periods (3.6% v. 4.5% of video scans, P < 0.05). This was confirmed by a significantly lower daily number and duration of visits to the SEF computed from the SEF data. The feeding activity measured from the video recording was significantly correlated ( R > 0.34; P < 0.05) with feeding patterns computed from the SEF. The RFI − pigs spent less time standing over the 24-h period (9.7% v. 12.2% of scans, i.e. 35 min/day, P < 0.05). In terms of energy costs, this amounted to 14% of the line difference in terms of daily metabolizable energy intake. The castrated males used the SEF more than females, especially at night (4.7% v. 3.4% of total scans, P < 0.05), whereas females displayed greater investigation of their environment (7.7 ± 0.3% v. 6.6 ± 0.2% of total scans, P < 0.05) and the novel objects (10.7% v. 4.9% of total scans, P < 0.05). In conclusion, the lower physical activity associated with reduced energy expenditure in RFI − pigs compared with RFI + pigs contributed significantly to their improved efficiency and was not related to worsened health scores.Keywords: pig, genetic, residual feed intake, physical activity, behaviour ImplicationsSelection for reduced residual feed intake (RFI) to improve the feed efficiency of pigs diminishes daily feed intake. In this study, physical activity is also reduced, and the energy saving associated with the lower physical activity in the low RFI pigs explains 14% of the feed intake difference between two lines divergently selected for RFI, significantly contributing to the better feed efficiency of the low RFI pigs. This highlights the potential of phenotyping physical activity in pigs to better quantify energy expenditure, together with the impact of improved efficiency on animal behavi...

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Divergent selection for residual feed intake in group-housed growing pigs: characteristics of physical and behavioural activity according to line and sex

Meunier-Salaün

Guérin

Billon³

et al. 2014

Animal

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“…They also seemed more active and although the difference in activity was not significant, the proportion of resting pigs was significantly lower in the intact groups. They probably had less need for resting as they spent less energy on fighting, which is an energyconsuming activity (Lepron et al, 2007). Except for the newly mixed control pigs, the distribution of activities during the day observed in this study was in accordance with previous studies (Bolhuis et al, 2005;Andersson et al, 2012); young pigs spend approximately half of the day lying down and the time increases with increasing age during the growing-finishing phase.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

Welfare of entire male pigs is improved by socialising piglets and keeping intact groups until slaughter

Rydhmer

Hansson

Lundström

et al. 2013

Animal

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In today's production systems, pigs raised for slaughter are mixed many times, resulting in stress and fighting. The negative consequences of mixing are probably more severe with entire males than with castrates, as they fight more. In this project, we studied a system without castration where entire male pigs met unfamiliar pigs only once. Piglets from two litters were allowed to visit each other from circa 2 weeks of age through an opening between the farrowing pens. Entire males from these litters were kept in intact groups from weaning and onwards, and they were slaughtered pen-wise in intact groups. Control pigs were raised and weaned in their litters and mixed with unknown pigs when moved to the growing-finishing unit. They were slaughtered by split marketing based on individual weight. In total, 96 entire males from 24 litters were studied. Activity and social interactions of pigs were studied by direct observations on three observation occasions per pen for pigs kept in intact groups and four occasions for control pigs. All pigs were inspected for skin lesions during raising and at slaughter. Results showed that fewer pigs in intact groups were resting (17.1% v. 28.5%; P 5 0.044) and they showed less aggressive behaviour (16.1 v. 27.7 number of interactions per hour; P 5 0.001) than control pigs when moved to the growing-finishing unit. They also got fewer skin lesions compared with control pigs (15 v. 35; P , 0.001). Consequently, control pigs tended to grow slower during the 1st week after mixing; however, growth rate during the whole growing-finishing phase did not differ between treatments (P 5 0.205). Control pigs directed more aggressive behaviour towards non-litter mates than towards litter mates during the whole growing-finishing phase, whereas pigs from the other treatment made no difference between litter mates and other familiar pigs. At 67 kg, there was more sexual behaviour (mounting) among control pigs (7.6 v. 3.4; P 5 0.033), but after slaughter no differences were found in testis weight or boar taint compounds. At slaughter, more entire males that were slaughtered pen-wise and kept in intact groups were without skin lesions compared with the mixed control pigs (74% v. 13%; P , 0.001). This study shows that the welfare of entire male pigs can be improved by socialising piglets and by keeping them in intact groups during raising and at slaughter.

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“…Monitoring animal locomotion in groups is an essential aspect of analysing different behaviours. Some of the more specific behavioural aspects that can be focused on are locomotor behaviour (Lepron et al, 2007), lameness detection (Kramer et al, 2009), agonistic behaviour (Szendrő and Dalle Zotte, 2011) and freezing behaviour (Vanheukelom et al, 2012). Moreover, this technology can help to monitor a large number of welfare measures taken to improve the animals' wellbeing (Botreau et al, 2007), such as "ease of movement" and "thermal comfort".…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automatic monitoring of pig locomotion using image analysis

et al. 2014

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a b s t r a c tThe purpose of this study was to investigate the feasibility and validity of an automated image processing method to detect the locomotion of pigs in a group housed environment and under experimental conditions. Topview video images were captured for forty piglets, housed ten per pen. On average, piglets had a weight of 27 kg (SD ¼ 4.4 kg) at the start of experiments and 40 kg (SD ¼ 6.5) at the end. Each pen was monitored by a topview CCD camera. The image analysis protocol to automatically quantify locomotion involved localising pigs through background subtraction and tracking them over a set period of time. To validate the accuracy of detecting pigs "In Locomotion" or "Not In Locomotion", they were compared to offline manually labelled behavioural data ("In Locomotion" versus "Not In Locomotion"). This is the first study to show that the locomotion of pigs in a group can be determined using image analysis with an accuracy of 89.8%. Since locomotion is known to be associated with issues such as lameness, careful monitoring can give an accurate indication of the health and welfare of pigs.

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Relationship between residual energy intake and the behaviour of growing pigs from three genetic lines

Cited by 11 publications

References 29 publications

Divergent selection for residual feed intake in group-housed growing pigs: characteristics of physical and behavioural activity according to line and sex

Divergent selection for residual feed intake in group-housed growing pigs: characteristics of physical and behavioural activity according to line and sex

Welfare of entire male pigs is improved by socialising piglets and keeping intact groups until slaughter

Automatic monitoring of pig locomotion using image analysis

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