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Haematological and behavioural responses of growing pigs to quantitative feed restriction

Njoku¹*, C.P., Adeyemi¹, O.A., Sogunle¹, O.M., Aina¹, A.B.J. and Oluwatosin², O.O.

¹Department of Animal Production and Health, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.
²Department of Animal Nutrition, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2020 23(1): 31-40

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A study was carried out to assess the effects of feed quantity offered on haematological parameters and behavioural characteristics of pigs. A total of 48 Large White grower male pigs with initial average body weight of 7.15�0.55 kg were assigned to 3 treatment groups of 16 pigs per group and were further replicated in 2 pigs per replicate on the 8th, 14th and 20th weeks of the experiment. Two digital cameras were mounted above the pen to monitor the behaviour of the pigs. The results obtained for the study indicated that quantitative feed restriction had no positive impact (p>0.05) on the haematological parameters considered whilst it influenced (p<0.05) standing, sitting, lying inclined, lying lateral and walking behaviours of the pigs. Walking behaviour (11.93, 8.52, 4.55%) decreased significantly (p<0.05) with increasing levels of feed offered, conversely lying inclined (5.77, 5.77, 13.46%) and lateral (5.26, 6.58, 13.16%) increased (p<0.05) with increasing levels of feed offered. Conclusively, quantitative restriction had no significant impact on the haematological indices of growing pigs but enhanced some behavioural traits (standing, sitting, lying and walking).