Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-j824f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-15T16:02:40.123Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A note on the diets selected by boars given a choice between two foods of different protein concentrations from 44 to 103 kg live weight

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

I. Kyriazakis ,
G. C. Emmans  and
A. J. Taylor
I. Kyriazakis
Affiliation:
Genetics and Behavioural Sciences Department, Scottish Agricultural College Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
G. C. Emmans
Affiliation:
Genetics and Behavioural Sciences Department, Scottish Agricultural College Edinburgh, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
A. J. Taylor
Affiliation:
BOCM Silcock Ltd, Basing View, Basingstoke RG21 2EQ
Get access

Abstract

Ten Large White × Landrace boars at an initial live weight of 43 kg were given free access to two isoenergetic foods with 119 (L) and 222 (H) g crude protein (CP) per kg food as a choice, for 54 days. Six more similar boars were given access to food H only. The diet selected by the choice-fed pigs (measured as the proportion of food H per kg total food intake) changed systematically with time; the CP content of the selected diet fell from 193 in the first 7 days to 146 g CP per kg food in the last 7 days. The performance of the choicefed pigs, over the 54-day period, was as good as that of those given food H only: live-weight gain was 1101 v. 1069 g/day and food conversion efficiency 0·380 v. 0·374 g gain per g food respectively. However, the choice-feeding system allowed boars to reduce the protein content of their diet as they grew. It is suggested that it might be possible to give pigs a choice between two appropriate foods during the whole growing-fattening period instead of frequently changing the composition for their single food in order to try to meet their requirements.

Keywords

appetitefood preferencesgrowthpigsprotein intake
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 56 , Issue 1 , February 1993 , pp. 151 - 154
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council. 1981. The nutrient requirements of pigs. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Blundell, J. E. and Hill, A. J. 1987. Nutrition, serotonin and appetite: case study in the evolution of a scientific idea. Appetite 8: 183–194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cole, D. J. A. and Chadd, S. A. 1989. Voluntary food intake of growing pigs. In The voluntary food intake of pigs (ed. Forbes, J. M., Varley, M. A. and Lawrence, T. L. J.), occasional publication, British Society of Animal Production, no. 13, pp. 61–70.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I. 1989. Growth, feed intake and diet selection in pigs: theory and experiments. PhD. Thesis, University of Edinburgh.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kyriazakis, I. and Emmans, G. C. 1990. The immediate effects of abrupt diet composition changes in young pigs. British journal of Nutrition 64: 619–623.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G. C. and Whittemore, C. T. 1990. Diet selection in pigs: choices made by growing pigs given foods of different protein concentrations. Animal Production 51:189–199.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G. C. and Whittemore, C. T. 1991. The ability of growing pigs to control their protein intake when fed in three different ways. Physiology and Behaviour 50:1197–1203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leathwood, P. D. and Ashley, D. V. M. 1983. Strategies of protein selection by weaning and adult rats. Appetite 4: 97–112.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittemore, C. T., Tullis, J. B. and Emmans, G. C. 1988. Protein growth in pigs. Animal Production 46: 437–445.CrossRefGoogle Scholar