Modelling and comparison of production and health indicators of commercial pigs under dry and wet feeding

Objective Precision feeding was a major trend in the current pig breeding industry, but there were problems such as the lack of pre-basic data and the unclear feed intake at each stage of wet feed feeding in practical application. This study was aimed to explore the growth and development pattern, dynamic model of feed intake and health of pigs under dry and wet feeding.

Method A total of 132 commercial pigs with an average initial body weight of (10.56±1.21) kg were randomly divided into two groups with 11 replicates of six pigs each, and were fed with dry and wet diets, respectively, for 120 d. The growth curves and feed intake dynamics of the pigs fed with dry and wet diets were analysed and fitted by three models of Logistic, Gompertz, and Von Bertalanffy. Health of pigs fed with wet and dry diets was investigated.

Result Von Bertalanffy model fitted the growth curve of dry-fed pigs best, with a fitting degree of 0.999. Gomperz model fitted the growth curve of wet-fed pigs better, with a fitting degree of 0.999. Gomperz model fitted the model of feed intake of dry-fed pigs best, with a fitting degree of 0.851. Von Bertalanffy model fitted the feed intake model of wet-fed pigs better, with a fitting degree of 0.988. The diarrhoea rate and diarrhoea index of wet-fed piglets were significantly lower than those of dry-fed piglets (P<0.05).

Conclusion The growth curves and feed intake models of pigs fed with wet and dry materials are constructed and fitted well, and the health conditions of pigs fed with wet and dry materials are investigated, which can provide a data support for the accurate feeding of pigs.