The Behaviour of the Pigs Housed in Hot Climatic Conditions

Abstract

The effect of high temperature on the behaviour of growing-finishing pigs was studied. The pigs were housed in a climate controlled chamber, the air temperature was kept constant at 30°C and the relative humidity was 32.5% during the whole 3 months. Aggressive behaviour and daily activities of the pigs were recorded during the light hours, from 6:00 till 18:00. Detailed observations showed that during the experiment, the pigs were most of the time lying (72%, P<0.001). Pigs spent more time lying on the floor without bedding (86.65%, P<0.01) compared to floor with bedding (13.35%, P<0.001). The second activity, which occurred most after lying was eating (16%, P<0.001) then standing (10%, P<0.001). From all observation activities, the least amount of time the pigs were sitting (1%) and moving (1%). Drinking and social contactsaggression were less frequent. After the each week, a significant decrease in aggression was recorded (P<0.001), an aggressive contacts occurred mainly during the eating and drinking. The pigs were active with peaks in the morning and afternoon. This study confirms that the high temperature influences the behaviour of the animals; the pigs are not very active, the most of the time they are lying on the cool places without bedding.

Behavioral Responses of Pigs Finished in Deep Bedding and Conventional Bed Systems

“…Nonetheless, these results are consistent with those of Amaral et al (2014), who observed a variation of 1.71% to 2.75% for seated animals. Even lower values were reported by Debreceni et al (2014), who observed the pattern "sitting" in 1% of the observations. Guy et al (2002) did find a difference between the evaluated systems.…”

“…Pigs housed in the concrete floor system (11.19%) showed higher frequencies than those housed in the deep bedding systems (< 8%) for the behavior pattern "eating." According to the results of Debreceni et al (2014), the "eating" behavior was observed at an average frequency of 16%. This value is corroborated by Amaral et al (2014), who observed frequencies around 15.48%-18.75% during daytime.…”

“…This result is possibly due to the thermal stress in which all animals, regardless of treatment, were experiencing. Authors such as Kiefer et al (2010), Debreceni et al (2014), and Massari et al (2015) indicate that this behavioral pattern is closely related to the thermal environment and that animals under heat stress increase their time spent lying down. The strong positive correlation between the thermal and behavioral variables is due to the animals' attempt to increase heat exchange with the floor, which is cooler, in addition to reducing the production of metabolic heat by avoiding activity.…”

“…Engenharia Agrícola, Jaboticabal, v.41, n.1, p.25-33, jan./feb. 2021 Debreceni et al (2014) state that pigs are less active when exposed to high temperatures, and in such cases, they resort to lying in cool areas, preferably on non-bedded floor surfaces. This justification further corroborates the hypothesis previously presented for the results of the "drinking" behavioral pattern.…”

Behavior of swine hosted in facilities with different construction typologies

“…According to the results of Debreceni et al (2014), normal eating behavior has an average frequency of 16%. This value is slightly higher than the frequencies observed in the present study, which was 13.33% in both pens.…”