Feeding Behavior of Finishing Pigs under Diurnal Cyclic Heat Stress
Marllon José Karpeggiane de Oliveira,
Marcio Valk,
Antônio Diego Brandão Melo,
Danilo Alves Marçal,
Cleslei Alisson Silva,
Graziela Alves da Cunha Valini,
Pedro Righetti Arnaut,
Joseane Penteado Rosa Gonçalves,
Ines Andretta,
Luciano Hauschild
Affiliations
Marllon José Karpeggiane de Oliveira
Department of Animal Science, School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal 14884-900, São Paulo, Brazil
Marcio Valk
Department of Statistics, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 91540-000, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Antônio Diego Brandão Melo
Department of Animal Science, School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal 14884-900, São Paulo, Brazil
Danilo Alves Marçal
Department of Animal Science, School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal 14884-900, São Paulo, Brazil
Cleslei Alisson Silva
Department of Animal Science, School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal 14884-900, São Paulo, Brazil
Graziela Alves da Cunha Valini
Department of Animal Science, School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal 14884-900, São Paulo, Brazil
Pedro Righetti Arnaut
Department of Animal Science, School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal 14884-900, São Paulo, Brazil
Joseane Penteado Rosa Gonçalves
Department of Animal Science, School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal 14884-900, São Paulo, Brazil
Ines Andretta
Department of Animal Science, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre 91540-000, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Luciano Hauschild
Department of Animal Science, School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, São Paulo State University (Unesp), Jaboticabal 14884-900, São Paulo, Brazil
The impact of cyclic heat stress (CHS) and turning the lights on and off on pig feeding behavior (FB) was investigated. The FB of 90 gilts was recorded in real-time under two ambient temperatures (AT): thermoneutrality (TN, 22 °C) or CHS (22/35 °C). The day was divided into four periods: PI (06–08 h); PII (08–18 h); PIII (18–20 h); and PIV (20–06 h). Automatic and Intelligent Precision Feeders recorded each feed event for each pig. An estimated meal criterion (49 min) was used to calculate the FB variables. Feed behavior in both ATs followed a circadian pattern. The CHS reduced the feed intake by 6.9%. The pigs prioritized feed intake during the coolest hours of the day; however, nocturnal cooling did not allow the pigs to compensate for the reduced meal size due to CHS. The highest meal size and most of the meals were observed during the lighting-on period. The pigs reduced their interval between meals during PII and PIII. The lighting program increased the meal size when the lights were switched on and reduced the meal size when the lights were switched off. Thus, the dynamics of the FB were largely influenced by AT, whereas the meal size was affected by the lighting program.
