Table 3.
Mean (± S.E.) outcomes of the Spontaneous Object Recognition Test (SORT)
| Sham-dosed | Coconut oil | Commercial product | Water | Test statistic2 | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of pigs | 12 | 12 | 12 | 11 | ||
| Session 1 | ||||||
| Latency to approach objects (s) | 51.1 ± 16.51 | 39.9 ± 16.74 | 67.6 ± 17.34 | 56.6 ± 17.68 | F(3,133) = 0.99 | 0.398 |
| Percentage of time interacting with objects (%) | 5.3 ± 1.10 | 5.9 ± 1.10 | 3.4 ± 1.10 | 4.9 ± 1.18 | F(3,175) = 1.56 | 0.201 |
| Percentage of time interacting with familiar object (%) | 13.1 ± 2.69a | 14.8 ± 2.68a | 5.3 ± 2.69b | 10.6 ± 2.85 | F(3,76.3) = 3.74 | 0.015 |
| Session 2 | ||||||
| Latency to approach novel object (s) | 30.0 ± 15.09 | 37.3 ± 15.10 | 52.5 ± 14.41 | 27.3 ± 15.62 | F(3,38) = 0.59 | 0.628 |
| Percentage of time interacting with familiar object (%) | 6.3 ± 2.69 | 5.1 ± 2.68 | 4.2 ± 2.69 | 3.6 ± 2.85 | F(3,76.3) = 0.28 | 0.842 |
| Percentage of time interacting with novel object (%) | 6.9 ± 1.28 | 7.25 ± 1.28 | 6.3 ± 1.28 | 4.8 ± 1.38 | F(3,40) = 0.62 | 0.605 |
| Percentage of pigs approaching novel object first (%)1 | 100.0 ± 0.00 | 72.7 ± 14.08 | 75.0 ± 13.06 | 72.7 ± 14.08 | X2(3) = 3.58 | 0.310 |
Tested piglets either received a dose of energy (coconut oil or commercial product) or water (water), or were sham-dosed (sham), at 3 h post-partum. Habituation to the experimental procedure started 3 days post-weaning (29 ± 0.3 days) and pigs were tested at 41 (± 0.3) days. The two sessions lasted 5 min and were separated in time by a 15-min retention period. During session 1, pigs were exposed to two identical objects. In session 2, one object from session 1 (familiar object) was replaced by a novel object
Superscript letters indicate significant differences between the neonatal supplementations at P < 0.05
1Numbers presented are the raw values
2Calculated F values for the F test (GLMM), and calculated X2 values for the Wald-test (Kruskal–Wallis)