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Background: Behavioral traits of pigs have been shown to be partly under genetic control, which raises the possibility that behavior might be altered by genetic selection, resulting in pigs with better growth performance. Objective: To evaluate the behavior and growth of finishing pigs and investigate pigs selected for high or low social breeding value (SBV) in relation to social behavior and group growth. Methods: Thirty-five females and 35 boars from five positive and five negative SBV groups of finishing pigs were grown from 30 to 90 kg and housed in 10 test pens (3.0 × 3.3 m, 7 pigs/pen). Pigs were recorded with video technology for nine consecutive hours on days 1, 15, and 30 after mixing. Pigs were weighed at approximately 90 kg body weight and the number of days to reach 90 kg was then calculated. Results: The frequency and duration of behaviors were present in the positive and negative SBV groups after mixing. On day 1 after mixing, agonistic behavior was significantly higher (p=0.027) for the -SBV group compared with the +SBV group. Feeding and feeding-together behaviors were significantly higher (p<0.003) in the +SBV group on days 1 and 30 after mixing. Moreover, growth performance to reach 90 kg body weight was significantly faster (p<0.002) in the +SBV group than in the -SBV group. Conclusion: Social interactions, such as feeding-together behavior, among pen mates might affect their growth rate and feed intake. Selection for SBV could be used as an indirect technique for improving growth performance of pigs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dietary mycotoxins have been shown to cause detrimental effects in swine health and production. The objective of this study was to develop tools for predicting the effects of aflatoxin (AFL), deoxynivalenol (DON) and zearalenone (ZON) on feed intake (FI) and weight gain (WG) changes using a meta-analysis approach. A total of 80 and 63 observations were extracted from 18 experiments testing the effects of AFL on FI and WG, respectively, and the differences of AFL concentrations between the control and treatment groups ranged from 0.02 to 2.5 mg/kg. A total of 117 and 113 observations from 20 experiments were used for testing the effects of DON on FI and WG, respectively. The differences of DON concentrations between the control and treatment groups ranged from 0.5 to 10.5 mg/kg. A total of 16 and 17 observations from 18 experiments were used for testing the effects of ZON on FI and WG, respectively, and the differences of ZON concentrations between the control and treatment groups ranged from 0.2 to 9.0 mg/kg. Effects of experiment, initial body weight, and experimental period were not significant for developing prediction equations for the changes of FI and WG. The models developed for predicting FI and WG changes (ΔFI and ΔWG) as % by AFL concentrations as mg/kg were: ΔFI = -24.9 × AFL - 1.7 with r² = 0.70 and p