Thunwa  Wiyabot, 
    The Effects of Group Sizes on Behaviors, Meat Characteristics and Growth Performance of
Growing and Finishing Pigs in the Tropics,
    Research Journal of Animal Sciences,
    Volume 14,Issue 3,
    2020,
    Pages 33-37,
    ISSN 1993-5269,
    rjnasci.2020.33.37,
    (https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=rjnasci.2020.33.37)
    Abstract: The group sizes were 4, 8 and 12 pigs/pen,
providing a floor allowance of 1.50, 0.75 and 0.51 m<sup>2</sup>/pig,
respectively. The pigs that were reared in a group size of
12 pigs/pen ate, drank, walked, mouth piped, rooted the
floor, rooted the pipe and pawed more significantly often
(p<0.05) than did the pigs that were reared in group sizes
of 4 and 8 pigs/pen. These feeding behaviors and the high
temperature of Thailand caused high rectal and skin
temperatures which were the highest in the group size of
12 pigs/pen. Moreover, the high temperature and the
increased group size may cause heat stress which would
decrease the Average Daily Gain (ADG). The largest
group size of 12 pigs/pen presented the lowest ADG in
both growing and finishing phases which significantly
differed (p<0.05) compared to the group sizes of 4 and
8 pigs/pen. In addition, the high temperature and the
feeding frequency in the group sizes of 8 and
12 pigs/pen provided a better back fat thickness that was
significantly less than that of the group size of 4 pigs/pen
(p<0.05).
    Keywords: Group size;growing and finishing pigs;temperature-humidity;index;feeding behaviors;feeding frequency