Effect of the drinker model on growth performance, water use and manure volume for piglets during the nursery phase

The water fasting period and the volume of water wasted during the nursery phase are directly related to the type of water fountain used. Therefore, this study aimed to compare different water fountain models regarding total water consumption, waste production, and growth performance of piglets on a commercial farm during the nursery phase. A total of 1,104 animals were divided into 3 experimental treatments: Treatment 1-Automatic bowl drinker (ABD2) model containing 2 drinkers per pen. Treatment 2 - (ABD4) the same model as T1, but with 4 drinkers per pen. Treatment 3-Swing nipple drinker (SND4) model with 4 drinkers per pen. Water usage at the drinkers (L/pig/day) was higher in SND4 than in ABD2 and ABD4 (P < 0.0001). The water-to-feed ratio was higher in SND4 than in ABD2 and ABD4 (P < 0.0001). The water-to-weight gain ratio was also higher in SND4 than in ABD2 and ABD4 (P < 0.0001). Regarding waste production, ABD2 and ABD4 presented lower volumes than SND4 (P < 0.0001). Additionally, liquid manure in ABD2 and ABD4 had a higher total solids content than SND4 (P < 0.0001). The coefficient of variation in body weight at the end of the experiment was lower in ABD4 than in SND4 (P < 0.05) and equal to ABD2 (P > 0.05). Daily weight gain was higher in SND4 than in ABD2 (P < 0.05) and equal to ABD4 (P > 0.05). The ABD used in this study resulted in lower total water consumption, and consequently lower manure volume produced. Additionally, the animals reached their final weight more uniformly in the pen, and there was no difference in growth performance when the number of animals per drinker was the same among treatments.