Effect of reduced dietary protein level on finishing pigs’ harmful social behaviour before and after an abrupt dietary change.

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dc.contributor.authorMcAuley, Melanie
dc.contributor.authorBuijs, Stephanie
dc.contributor.authorMuns Vila, Ramon
dc.contributor.authorGordon, Alan Wesley
dc.contributor.authorPalmer, Maeve
dc.contributor.authorMeek, Kayleigh
dc.contributor.authorO'Connell, Niamh
dc.date.accessioned2022-12-14T15:02:08Z
dc.date.available2022-12-14T15:02:08Z
dc.date.issued2022-10-06
dc.descriptionPublication history: Accepted - 3 October 2022; Published online - 6 October 2022en_US
dc.description.abstractTail biting in pigs is a harmful behavioural disorder that negatively affects their welfare. Nutrition has played a crucial role in improving farm efficiency; however, an imbalance in key nutrients is an accepted risk factor for tail biting. The exact contributing factors and the level of risk associated with inadequate nutrition remain unclear. We aimed to assess the effect of dietary protein level on harmful social behaviours in finishing pigs before and after an abrupt dietary change. A total of 80 pigs (Duroc x (Landrace x Large White)) were assigned to this trial over two batches. Pigs were housed in mixed sex groups of 10 and assigned to one of two treatments at 12 weeks of age. These consisted of a control treatment (CON) containing 15.5% Crude Protein (CP) and a low CP treatment (LowCP) containing 13.5% CP. The abrupt dietary change occurred at 16 weeks of age (71.45 kg) in batch 1 and at 15 weeks of age (67.04 kg) in batch 2. This change in diet led to a 1.2% drop in CP in the CON treatment and a 1.4% drop in CP in the LowCP treatment. Behavioural observations were performed before and after the diet change and largely focused on the pigs' social behaviour. Using a "hurdle" model analysis, we investigated whether diet, diet change or sex influenced: 1) the probability that a behaviour was not performed, and 2) the frequency and/or duration when the behaviour was performed. The LowCP treatment led to an increased duration of limb-directed behaviour (P = 0.03) when performed at all, and also an increased duration of ‘tail-in-mouth’ behaviour (P = 0.02) in males but not females. However, LowCP did not affect the level of ear-directed behaviours in this way (P > 0.05). An increase in standing frequency occurred after the abrupt diet change (P = 0.04). Our study indicates that a small reduction in dietary protein and sex affect behaviour in the finishing phase, with some impacts on important harmful social behaviours. Furthermore, an effect of abrupt diet change on behaviour is suggested, which will require further confirmation.en_US
dc.identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12518/504
dc.identifier.citationMcAuley, M., Buijs, S., Muns, R., Gordon, A., Palmer, M., Meek, K. and O’Connell, N. (2022) ‘Effect of reduced dietary protein level on finishing pigs’ harmful social behaviour before and after an abrupt dietary change’, Applied Animal Behaviour Science. Elsevier BV. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105762.en_US
dc.identifier.issn0168-1591
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2022.105762
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherElsevieren_US
dc.rightsCopyright 2022 Elsevier. This manuscript is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits distribution and reproduction for non-commercial purposes, provided the author and source are cited.en_US
dc.subjectFinishing pig behaviouren_US
dc.subjectHarmful social behaviouren_US
dc.subjectDietary proteinen_US
dc.subjectDietary changeen_US
dc.titleEffect of reduced dietary protein level on finishing pigs’ harmful social behaviour before and after an abrupt dietary change.en_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dcterms.dateAccepted2022-10-03
dcterms.dateSubmitted2022-05-31

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