Table 5. Effects of environmental enrichment on behaviour in weanling pigs
Item | Control | EE-1 | EE-2 | EE-4 | SEM | p-value |
Phase 1 (d 14) | | | | | | |
Nosing | 9.56 | 10.19 | 10.00 | 9.27 | 0.46 | 0.221 |
Biting | 6.48a | 6.08ab | 5.38b | 5.31b | 0.39 | 0.018 |
Mounting | 0.63 | 0.56 | 0.58 | 0.54 | 0.22 | 0.984 |
Tail biting | 4.17a | 3.63ab | 3.29b | 3.02b | 0.24 | 0.001 |
Ear biting | 2.88a | 2.54ab | 2.02b | 2.04b | 0.28 | 0.016 |
Aggressive | 2.52 | 2.23 | 1.77 | 1.83 | 0.29 | 0.056 |
Phase 2 (d 28) | | | | | | |
Nosing | 5.04 | 4.96 | 5.23 | 5.27 | 0.45 | 0.880 |
Biting | 1.31 | 1.10 | 1.17 | 1.25 | 0.33 | 0.924 |
Mounting | 0.67 | 0.71 | 0.69 | 0.73 | 0.19 | 0.990 |
Tail biting | 0.63 | 0.71 | 0.60 | 0.56 | 0.25 | 0.945 |
Ear biting | 0.69 | 0.75 | 0.71 | 0.67 | 0.20 | 0.978 |
Aggressive | 0.71 | 0.63 | 0.63 | 0.75 | 0.24 | 0.936 |
Means with different superscripts in the same row differ significantly (p < 0.05).
EE-1, inclusion of play object until one week after weaning; EE-2, inclusion of play object until two weeks after weaning; EE-4, inclusion of play object until four weeks after weaning.