رسالة جامعية
Foraging in the farrowing room to stimulate feeding : getting piglets to eat is bittersweet
| العنوان: | Foraging in the farrowing room to stimulate feeding : getting piglets to eat is bittersweet |
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| المؤلفون: | Middelkoop, Anouschka |
| المساهمون: | Kemp, B., Bolhuis, J.E., Kleerebezem, M. |
| بيانات النشر: | Wageningen University |
| سنة النشر: | 2020 |
| المجموعة: | Wageningen UR (University & Research Centre): Digital Library |
| مصطلحات موضوعية: | animal behaviour, animal nutrition, animal production, animal welfare, pigs, dierenwelzijn, diergedrag, dierlijke productie, diervoeding, varkens |
| الوصف: | In common pig production systems, weaning happens early and abruptly, which contrasts the gradual transition from sow’s milk to solid feed in nature. A significant proportion of commercially reared piglets is therefore poorly familiarised with the ingestion of solid feed before weaning, which together with concurrent changes in social structure and environment, result in a low feed intake and multiple health and welfare problems initially after weaning. The first aim of this thesis was to investigate the effects of solid feed provision during lactation (creep feed) on piglet development during the weaning transition. Piglets provided with creep feed (including fermentable fibres) during lactation increased their growth towards weaning, tended to be heavier at weaning, and were heavier and more uniform in body weight at two weeks after weaning compared to piglets reared on sow’s milk only. This may partly be explained by a more developed gastrointestinal tract and more mature gut microbiota population at weaning of creep feed eaters within litters given creep feed. The second aim of this thesis was to explore whether piglets that were offered more opportunities to forage early in life increased their intake of creep feed before weaning and thereby improved their ability to deal with the weaning transition. Four strategies that could stimulate foraging in the farrowing room were tested: 1) enriching the pen with foraging materials on the floor and extra space, and by alternating chew objects, 2) presenting creep feed in a ‘play-feeder’ with foraging and playing materials attached, 3) providing diverse feeds in the feeder and 4) hiding feed in the feeder in sand. Enrichment with foraging materials on the floor, more space and alternating chew objects positively influenced feed intake of piglets before and after weaning until the end of the study at 2.5 weeks post-weaning. Presenting the creep feed in a play-feeder stimulated feeder exploration and attracted more piglets than presenting the feed in a conventional ... |
| نوع الوثيقة: | doctoral or postdoctoral thesis |
| وصف الملف: | application/pdf |
| اللغة: | English |
| العلاقة: | https://edepot.wur.nl/516612Test; https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/foraging-in-the-farrowing-room-to-stimulate-feeding-getting-pigleTest |
| DOI: | 10.18174/516612 |
| الإتاحة: | https://doi.org/10.18174/516612Test https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/foraging-in-the-farrowing-room-to-stimulate-feeding-getting-pigleTest |
| حقوق: | Wageningen University & Research |
| رقم الانضمام: | edsbas.6910E6C8 |
| قاعدة البيانات: | BASE |
| DOI: | 10.18174/516612 |
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