Creep feeding on survival ratio and growth performance of piglets

Abstract

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effects of creep feeding on survival rate and growth performance of piglets during suckling period. In the experiment, fiftytwo piglets from eight sows were assigned equally to experimental group (fed concentrate feed) and control group (fed waste food). During a 28 d period (from 15 d of age until 43 d of age), the piglet were fed different diets, and survival rate and growth performance of the animals were recorded weekly. At the end of the experiment, there were no differences in survival rate of piglets (control 76.9%; experimental, 73.1%). However, there were significant differences in weekly body weight gain between groups. Also, the experimental group had higher average final body weight (4420 g) than the control group (3825 g). The experimental group had better feed conversation ratio than the control group. However, there were no significant differences in their survival rate.