Feeding frequencies and their effect on behavior of nursing sows
Prasanna, Somerahally BasavarajuBhar, RasbehariRajeshwari , Yajaman BajjappaBhajantri, ShankarappaRudraswamy, Mathad Shivamurthaiah
An experiment to relate behavior activities with reference to feeding was carried on 16 lactating sows and their litters after one week of farrowing. Two types of diets were fed to the sows. The control group (C) animals were fed with standard ration containing 18% crude protein (CP). The ration for kitchen waste fed group (K) was prepared by substituting the CP of standard ration by food leftover kitchen wastes to the extent of 40%. The sows were randomly distributed into four groups based on frequency of feeding either once (C1, K1) or twice (C2, K2). All the sows were housed individually. The behavior data of sows were collected on ethogram data sheet using scan sampling method. Instantaneous sampling time recording rule was followed to record the listed activities at regular interval during the study period. The sows activities were recorded for 15 days after one week of farrowing. The activities were recorded for 4 hours split between morning and evening, one hour before and one hour after offering of feeds to the sows (8:30 to 9:30 am, 10:30 to 11:30 am, 3:00 to 4:00 pm and 4:30 to 5:30 pm). Nine behavioral parameters were recorded and categorized into 3 major attributes viz., feeding and nursing behavior, active self-care behavior and inactive resting behavior. The sows weaned their litters at the end of 8 weeks. The data on litter size at birth and at weaning was used to compare the nursing behavior with productivity of sows. The increased frequency of feeding made sows spend significantly more time (P<0.01) in eating while reducing their inactive resting time. Thus reduced frequency of feeding to once per day is more beneficial in terms of keeping pigs undisturbed and also this reduces the labour requirement for feeding purpose. (AU)
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