ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2013, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (9): 1411-1416.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2013.09.011

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Effects of Electronic Feeding Station on Stress Level and Feeding Behavior of Growing Pigs

YU Shi-zheng, HAO Yue, GU Xian-hong*   

  1. (State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, Institute of Animal Science, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Beijing 100193, China)
  • Received:2013-01-04 Online:2013-09-23 Published:2013-09-23

Abstract:

The aim of this experiment was to study the effects of electronic feeding station on stress response and feeding behavior of growing pigs. One hundred and twenty-two Large White growing pigs with initial weight of (28.2±3.41) kg were randomly allotted into station 15 group, common silo 15 group and station 8 group by pens. The pigs were stratified by sex. The 15 groups had 3 replications, and 8 group had 4 replications. Feeding period was 44 days. During the test period, the skin temperature of pigs was tested, and the saliva was collected to determine the cortisol concentration. At the same time, the feeding behavior was analyzed. The results showed that salivary cortisol level of pigs had no significant differences between the three treatments. The station significantly increased the pig skin temperature (P<0.05) on 2nd day, and significantly decreased skin temperature (P<0.01) on 15th day. Feed intake of pigs in station 8 group was slighter higher than that in station 15 group, and the gap of feed intake tended to be lager after 30 days. Intake times of pigs in station 8 group was lower than that in station 15 group, but the cumulative feeding time during a day was higher than that in station 15 group. Both station 8 and 15 group had feeding peaks at 09:00, 15:00 and 19:00,but the daily feeding behavior curve of pigs in station 15 group was more gentle.

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