LAUSR

Abstract Early socialization not only facilitates positive behaviors and cognition abilities of post-weaning piglets, but also has effects on social behavior and physiology of suckling piglets during the lactation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of early socialization environment on social behavior, stress coping and weaning weight of suckling piglets. We selected 199 piglets (Large White × Duroc × Min pig) from 18 litters and three treatments were differentiated: intermittent contact group (IC, 6 litters), piglets of two neighboring litters were socialized twice a week for 3 h from D14 (14 days of age) to D35; continuous contact group (CC, 6 litters), piglets of two neighboring litters were socialized continuously from D14 to D35; the control group (CON, 6 litters), piglets were not socialized during the lactation. Behavioral observation occurred on D14, D15, D21, D22, D28, D29, D33 and D34, and blood samples were collected on D16, D28 and D34. The results revealed that the amount of fighting and head knocking in IC group was higher than CC and CON groups (P