caa a22 4500 388060670 CHVBK 20180307125119.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e199804 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S1357729800009607 doi S1357729800009607 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S1357729800009607 The effect of cross-suckling and presence of additional piglets on sucking behaviour and performance of individually housed litters [Elektronische Daten] Grouping of sows and piglets during lactation can cause performance problems associated with disruption of suckling. Cross-suckling and an increase in the number of piglets at the udder during milk let-down have been observed. To investigate the role of these factors, 24 sows and litters were used to study their independent effect on sucking behaviour and performance. Control sows (C) remained in farrowing pens with crates until weaning at 28 days. In treatment 1 (Tl) on day 14 after farrowing, five piglets were removed from the resident (Rl) litter and replaced by five piglets (cross-suckers; CS1) of the same age from a different litter. In treatment 2 (T2) on day 14, five additional piglets (CS2) from other litters were added to the 10 resident (R2) piglets for a period of 24 h. Behaviours of the sows and piglets were video recorded prior to mixing and for 3 days after mixing. Litter weight gain of 11 was significantly reduced in the week after mixing (2-06,1·61 and 2·00 (s.e.d. 0·18) kg/day, P < 0·05 for C, Tl, T2, respectively). Within Tl the growth rates ofRl and CS1 piglets were not significantly different. In the 24 h after mixing, C, Rl, CS1 and R2 piglets gained weight whilst CS2 lost weight (247,186,182,151 and -116 (s.e.d. 44·2) glday, P < 0·01). On the day of mixing, the proportion of suckling attempts which resulted in milk letdown was reduced in treatment groups (0·93, 0·75 and 0·70 (s.e.d. 0·04), P < 0·02 for C, Tl, T2 respectively) and the proportion ofT2 piglets lying near the sow's udder between milk let-down was higher than on C and Tl (0·15, 017 and 0·29 (s.e.d. 0·06), P < 0·05). There was no significant difference in piglet behaviour from 2 days after mixing. Both cross-suckling and introduction of additional piglets transiently disrupted sucking behaviour and adversely affected the performance of the piglets. Increased competition had a much greater effect than unfamiliarity with the environment, with added cross-sucking piglets being greatly disadvantaged relative to substituted cross-sucking piglets. Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1998 behaviour nationallicence litter size nationallicence pigs nationallicence sucking nationallicence suckling nationallicence Wattanakul W. Scottish Agriculture College, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA Stewart A. H. Scottish Agriculture College, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA Edwards S. A. Scottish Agriculture College, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA English P. R. Department of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB24 5UA Animal Science Cambridge University Press 66/2(1998-04), 449-455 1357-7298 66:2<449 1998 66 ASC https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800009607 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1357729800009607 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Wattanakul W. Scottish Agriculture College, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Stewart A. H. Scottish Agriculture College, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Edwards S. A. Scottish Agriculture College, Craibstone Estate, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB21 9YA NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- English P. R. Department of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, 581 King Street, Aberdeen AB24 5UA NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Animal Science Cambridge University Press 66/2(1998-04), 449-455 1357-7298 66:2<449 1998 66 ASC CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge