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In order to ensure sustainable pig production in most tropical countries, alternative flooring systems need to be investigated and adopted. This five-week experiment was carried out to investigate the growth performance and skin lesion score of 36 weaned pigs raised on different heights of Guinea Grass Straw (GGS) beddings. The pigs were separated into four treatments in triplicate, in a completely randomized design. The treatments were: T1: 0m (concrete floor: without GGS), T2: 0.1m GGS, T3: 0.2m GGS and T4: 0.3m GGS. At the end of the experiment, data were collected on growth performance: final weight, weight gain, feed intake while feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated and skin lesions (front, middle and rear) measured. All data obtained were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA). Pigs on 0.2m had the highest (p<0.05) weight gain (4.75kg) compared with its counterparts on 0.1m (4.28kg), 0.3m (3.94kg) and T1(3.34kg). Final weight followed similar trend with pigs in 0.2m (9.94kg) having the highest weight compared with 0.1m (9.40kg), 0.3m (9.22kg) and T1 (8.55kg). The highest FCR (4.72) was recorded for pigs on 0m (control) which was an indication of poor feed utilisation while the least was with pigs on 0.2m (3.39). The result for skin lesion for the different parts revealed the least lesion occurred in pigs on 0.3m and higher occurrence in pigs on T1. Generally, skin lesions occur most at the front legs and heads. It can be concluded that the use of guinea grass straw at 0.1m and 0.2m height can improve the performance of weaned piglets while a height of 0.3m results in reduced skin lesions score.

Straw bedded pigsties height: Effect on growth and skin lesion of pigs