COMPARATIVE EFFECT OF FEEDING BASED ON BODY WEIGHT AND UNRESTRICTED FEEDING ON THE PERFORMANCE AND HAEMATOLOGY OF WEANER PIGS.

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to compare the effect of feeding based on body weight and ad libitum on the performance and serum biochemistry of weaner pigs. A total of 20 weaned pigs were randomly allotted into two treatments with two replicates each (5 weaned pigs per replicate) and arranged in a completely randomized design, T1 (Ad libitum) and T2 (10% of Body weight). The experiment lasted for 42 days. Pigs inT1 had unrestricted access to feed (ad libitum) while 10% of body weight was offered to pigs in T2 Body weight, rectal and environmental temperatures were measured weekly while the feed conversion ratio was calculated. Blood samples were collected from the weaned pigs at the end of the experiment to determine the serum biochemistry of the experimental animals. Significant differences(P<0.05) were observed in the feed intake and feed conversion ratio of weaned pigs, in which the feed intake for T1 was 3.33 kg/pig/week and T2 was 7.43 kg/pig/week while the feed conversion ratio for T1 was 1.11 and T2 was 2.78. The rectal temperature of pigs in T1 increased from 35.6°C to 37.2°C while it decreased from 38.3°C to 36.5° C in pigs allotted to T2 The environmental temperature also decreased from 27.3°C to 25.5°C. The temperature - humidity index was critical throughout the period of the experiment. There was no significant (P>0.05) effect observed in most of the serum biochemical parameters of weaner pigs fed based on body weight and ad libitum. But, significant difference (P<0.05) was observed in the cholesterol level with 1.36 g/l for T1 and 1.94 g/l for T2. Based on this research work, the performance of the weaner pigs fed on ad libitum improved when compared to weaner pigs fed based on their body weight. Although, feeding based on body weight helps in reducing the heat produced from metabolic activities.