Behavioural and Growth Responses to Environmental Temperature in Weaned Piglets Kept in Groups

Experiments involving 96 piglets were conducted to evaluate the minimum temprature for weaned piglets kept in groups. Piglets weaned at 4 weeks of age were raised by four heads in group size and fed ad libitum in 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25°C environment. Their behaviour, daily food intake (DFI), daily gain (DG) and feed efficiency (FE) were determined during 4 weeks post weaning. Results summarized were as follows: 1) Piglets huddled together in all range from 5°C to 25°C at 5 weeks of age, while they did in 15°C below after 6 weeks of age. 2) In the range from 15 to 25°C, piglets had similar DFI, DG and FE which averaged 0.66kg/head, 0.43kg/head and 0.66, respectively. 3)In the 10°C environment, DFI increased to the extent of 0.73kg/head and FE decreased to 0.59, whereas DG kept 0.43kg/head. 4) In the 5°C environment, DFI was invariable as 0.63 kg/head, whereas DG decreased to the value of 0.32kg/head and FE decreased remarkably to 0.51.