Relations between feeding behaviour traits, growth traits and feed efficiency in Goland pigs.

In this paper the feeding behaviour in performance test (56 d) of 703 Goland pigs between 77 and 140 kg, utilizing a feeding equipment recording feeding time, number of visits and individual feed intake, was analized. At the beginning and at the end of the test, weight and backfat thickness variations were recorded. Data were utilized to calculate the residual feed intake as feeding efficiency index. On average, pigs visited the feeder 14 times, of about 5 min, with an average consumption of 280 g. The increase of meal size was associated with an increase of time spent per visit (r = 0.91) and with a reduction of the number of meals (r = - 0.80). The increase of eating rate was associated with the reduction of time per visit (r = -0.25), but not of number or dimension of meals. Pigs showing low rates of feed intake and small and frequent meals resulted more efficient. Phenotypic correlations between rate of eating, number and dimension of meals and residual feed intake were significant, but rather limited, respectively 0.29, - 0.13 and 0.23