Identifying Early Indicators of Tail Biting in Pigs by Variable Selection Using Partial Least Squares Regression.

This study examined relevant variables for predicting the prevalence of pigs with a tail lesion in rearing (REA) and fattening (FAT). Tail lesions were recorded at two scoring days a week in six pens in both REA (10 batches, 840 scoring days) and FAT (5 batches, 624 scoring days). To select the variables that best explain the variation within the prevalence of pigs with a tail lesion, partial least squares regression models were used with the variable importance in projection (VIP) and regression coefficients (β) as selection criteria.