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Table 6 Post-weaning behaviour (proportion of total observations, %) of CW, IS and ISCo pigs1

From: Intermittent suckling with or without co-mingling of non-littermate piglets before weaning improves piglet performance in the immediate post-weaning period when compared with conventional weaning

Behaviour2, % of total observations

D3 0

 

D 1

 

D 7

 

CW

IS

ISCo

SEM

CW

IS

ISCo

SEM

CW

IS

ISCo

SEM

Sleeping

20.4a,x

91.3b,x

22.4a,x

2.8

53.1a,y

58.2a,y

78.0b,y

4.1

39.8a,z

58.9b,y

54.6b,z

3.1

Inactive

32.1a,x

0.5b,x

18.4c,x

2.7

19.9a,y

15.8a,y

8.1b,y

2.3

15.1a,y

6.6b,z

11.2ab,y

1.4

Standing

13.3a,x

2.6b

4.1b

1.9

4.6y

6.6

5.1

1.9

8.7x

4.8

4.8

1.3

Aggressive behaviour

2.0

0.0

1.5

0.9

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.0

0.8

0.0

0.0

Exploratory and play behaviour

15.8a,x

0.0b,x

31.6ax

2.5

5.6y

5.1y

2.6y

1.5

8.2y

6.6y

3.1y

1.5

Manipulative behaviour

10.7a,xy

1.0b,x

12.8a

2.1

7.7ax

4.6ab,x

3.1b

1.5

13.0y

10.7y

15.3

1.8

Ingestive-related behaviour

2.0a,x

1.5a,x

8.7b,x

1.3

6.6y

9.2y

3.1y

2.1

13.0z

9.9y

11.0x

1.5

  1. 1CW = conventional weaning (n = 50), IS = intermittent suckling (n = 50), ISCo = intermittent suckling with co-mingling (n = 50)
  2. 2Results obtained by scan sampling observations. Data were tested nonparametrically
  3. 3Day = day in relation to weaning with weaning = d 0, d −25 is the day on which most the litters were born
  4. a-cFor each day, means with different superscripts are different (P < 0.05), indicating differences between treatments per day
  5. x-zFor each day treatment, means with different superscripts (P <0.05), indicating differences between days within each treatment