Table 5.
Behavioral activities (% of total observations) at week 2 after weaning (42 days of age).
| Behavior at week 2 after weaning | DD | MO | Significance | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CON | SUB | CON | SUB | DV | FP | DV × FP | |
| “Ingestive behavior” | |||||||
| Eating feed | 11.1 ± 0.6 | 11.3 ± 0.5 | 10.5 ± 0.6 | 11.7 ± 0.5 | 0.88 | 0.23 | 0.41 |
| Drinking | 2.0 ± 0.3 | 1.5 ± 0.3 | 1.9 ± 0.3 | 1.9 ± 0.3 | 0.49 | 0.40 | 0.071 |
| “Exploratory behavior” | |||||||
| Exploring feed(er) and drinker | 3.1 ± 0.3 | 3.3 ± 0.5 | 3.4 ± 0.5 | 3.8 ± 0.4 | 0.43 | 0.39 | 0.68 |
| Exploring environment | 18.8 ± 1.2a | 29.4 ± 2.6b | 28.3 ± 3.2b | 26.5 ± 1.6b | 0.09 | 0.04 | <0.01 |
| Nosing environment | 9.5 ± 1.2 | 12.0 ± 1.1 | 11.7 ± 1.1 | 11.3 ± 0.7 | 0.47 | 0.22 | 0.18 |
| Rooting environment | 1.1 ± 0.2 | 2.0 ± 0.5 | 1.7 ± 0.5 | 2.2 ± 0.4 | 0.04 | 0.03 | 0.18 |
| Chewing environment | 6.6 ± 1.3a | 13.1 ± 2.1b | 12.8 ± 2.0b | 10.5 ± 1.4ab | 0.15 | 0.14 | <0.01 |
| Chewing air | 1.7 ± 0.2 | 2.3 ± 0.4 | 2.0 ± 0.5 | 2.5 ± 0.5 | 0.64 | 0.23 | 0.75 |
| “Postures and locomotion” | |||||||
| Inactive behavior | 50.5 ± 2.2a | 40.5 ± 2.5b | 43.6 ± 2.5b | 41.1 ± 2.0b | 0.17 | <0.01 | 0.08 |
| Standing and walking | 2.8 ± 0.2 | 3.8 ± 0.2 | 3.1 ± 0.3 | 3.6 ± 0.2 | 0.73 | <0.01 | 0.27 |
| “Pig-directed behavior” | |||||||
| Nosing pen mates | 4.1 ± 0.3a | 3.3 ± 0.2ab | 2.9 ± 0.3b | 3.6 ± 0.3ab | <0.10 | 0.98 | 0.03 |
| Ear biting | 0.4 ± 0.1 | 0.3 ± 0.1 | 0.4 ± 0.1 | 0.6 ± 0.1 | 0.32 | 0.88 | 0.19 |
| Tail biting | 0.6 ± 0.1 | 0.8 ± 0.3 | 0.5 ± 0.1 | 0.6 ± 0.1 | 0.32 | 0.48 | 0.81 |
| Belly nosing | 0.2 ± 0.1 | 0.2 ± 0.1 | 0.3 ± 0.2 | 0.4 ± 0.4 | 0.93 | 0.73 | 0.89 |
| Manipulating pen mates | 1.1 ± 0.2 | 0.7 ± 0.1 | 0.7 ± 0.1 | 0.9 ± 0.2 | 0.90 | 0.64 | 0.091 |
| Mounting pen mates | 0.5 ± 0.2 | 0.3 ± 0.1 | 0.4 ± 0.2 | 0.3 ± 0.1 | 0.99 | 0.28 | 0.94 |
| Aggression | 0.1 ± 0.05 | 0.2 ± 0.1 | 0.2 ± 0.1 | 0.2 ± 0.1 | 0.70 | 0.63 | 0.48 |
| “Other behavior” | |||||||
| Playing | 3.2 ± 0.4 | 2.5 ± 0.4 | 2.3 ± 0.4 | 3.3 ± 0.3 | 0.80 | 0.61 | 0.031 |
| Comfort behavior | 0.3 ± 0.1 | 0.5 ± 0.1 | 0.6 ± 0.1 | 0.5 ± 0.1 | 0.11 | 0.54 | 0.29 |
| Eliminating | 1.0 ± 0.1 | 1.2 ± 0.2 | 0.8 ± 0.1 | 0.9 ± 0.2 | 0.05 | 0.37 | 0.76 |
Piglets were provided with one solid feed item as monotonous diet (MO) or four solid feed items as diverse diet (DD) before weaning and their pre-weaning diet was presented without substrate (CON) or with substrate (SUB) in one of two feeders. DV, dietary variety; FP, feed presentation. Data are means ± SEM based on pen averages. Within a row superscripts without a common letter differ at P < 0.05. Significant P-values and trends are presented in bold.
1
No significant differences were observed using post-hoc pairwise comparisons of least squares means.