Table 4.

Impact of feed level during the last week of gestation on the performance of the piglets (n = 8 sows/feed level)

	Feed level (FL), kg/d							Parity (P)			P-value
Item	1.8	2.4	3.1	3.7	4.3	5.0	SEM	Gilt	Sow	SEM	Trt	P	FL × P	Linear	Quadratic	Cubic	Optimum1
Birth interval, min	7.90	8.61	5.74	6.56	6.54	7.64	[4.38;11.3]	8.31a	6.07b	[5.18;9.82]	0.28	0.009	0.14	0.44	0.15	0.44
Piglet birth weight, g	1,164	1,197	1,179	1,206	1,212	1,236	49	1,132b	1,266a	28	0.94	0.001	0.24	0.29	0.90	0.79
Piglet BW 12 h, g	1,213	1,264	1,231	1,246	1,252	1,302	52	1,177b	1,327a	30	0.90	<0.001	0.51	0.34	0.76	0.47
Piglet BW 24 h, g	1,212	1,262	1,258	1,271	1,279	1,330	52	1,193b	1,344a	30	0.77	<0.001	0.50	0.14	0.91	0.54
Piglet weight gain 0 to 12 h, g	26.1	58.6	55.8	45.9	45.2	59.1	11	39.6b	57.2a	6.1	0.24	0.04	0.86	0.20	0.34	0.04	[2.9]
Piglet weight gain 0 to 24 h, g	32.7	43.7	60.1	68.4	58.7	75.9	14	50.2b	62.9b	8.0	0.28	0.24	0.82	0.02	0.59	0.72
Piglet colostrum intake 0 to 24 h, g	302	321	333	350	341	357	21	317b	351a	12	0.46	0.05	0.95	0.04	0.61	0.83

¹Optimal daily feed level was estimated for cubic contrast when the quadratic and/or cubic contrast showed significance (P < 0.05) or a tendency (P ≤ 0.10). Only the optimum for the cubic function is presented.

^a,bMeans within a row with different superscript differ (P < 0.05).