Effect of lysine level in the nursery period and number of dietary phases in the growing-finishing period on growth performance and carcass characteristics of pigs

Tolosa Russi, Andres Fernando

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Description

Title

Effect of lysine level in the nursery period and number of dietary phases in the growing-finishing period on growth performance and carcass characteristics of pigs

Author(s)

Tolosa Russi, Andres Fernando

Issue Date

2019-12-13

Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)

Ellis, Mike

Department of Study

Animal Sciences

Discipline

Animal Sciences

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

M.S.

Degree Level

Thesis

Keyword(s)

• SID Lysine
• growth performance
• phase feeding
• pigs.

Abstract

This thesis evaluated the impact of a number of important components of the nutritional program for wean-to-finish pigs. Firstly, the lysine requirement of nursery pigs for the genetic line used in this research was estimated by titrating dietary SID lysine level against growth performance. Secondly, the impact of reduced nursery growth performance resulting from feeding lysine-deficient diets during the nursery period on subsequent performance in the growing-finishing and wean-to-finish periods was evaluated. Finally, the effect of reducing the number of dietary phases fed during the growing-finishing period on growth performance and carcass characteristics was investigated. The research was carried out in 3 parts in a wean-to-finish facility. Part 1 was carried out over the nursery period (5.8 ± 0.34 kg to 38.4 ± 3.15 kg body weight); Part 2 was over the growing-finishing period (38.4 ± 3.15 kg to 121.3 ± 4.56 kg body weight); Part 3 was over the wean-to-finish period (5.8 ± 0.34 kg to 121.3 ± 4.56 kg body weight). Part 1 involved a total of 7,480 commercial crossbred barrows and gilts (34 replicates), housed in single-sex groups of 44 at a floor space of 0.30m2/pig. At the end of Part 1/start of Part 2, each pen was split into 2 single-sex pens of 22 to create 33 replicates (7,260 pigs) for use in Parts 2 and 3; the floor space was 0.62m2 /pig. In Part 1, a randomized complete block design (blocking factor was day of start of test) was used to compare 5 Dietary SID (Standardized Ileal Digestibility) Lysine Inclusion Level treatments: i). Control (formulated to meet the recommended SID lysine requirement; NRC; 2012); ii). Control - 0.1 % units lower SID lysine level; iii). Control - 0.2 % units lower SID lysine level; iv). Control + 0.1 % units greater SID lysine level; v). Control + 0.2 % units greater SID lysine level. Parts 2 and 3 used a split-plot design to compare 2 treatments: 1). Previous Dietary SID Lysine Level in the nursery period (main plot) with the same 5 treatment levels presented above; 2). Number of Dietary Phases in the growing-finishing period (split plot): i) 5 dietary phases; ii) 3 dietary phases. Four dietary phases were used during the nursery period (Part 1), and either 3 or 5 phases, according to treatment, in the growing-finishing period (Part 2). With the exception of SID lysine level in Part 1, which was according to treatment, all diets were formulated to meet or exceed the nutrient requirements suggested by NRC (2012). Weights and feed delivered to each pen were collected every 2 and 3 weeks for Parts 1 and 2, respectively, and used to calculate ADG, ADFI and G:F. At the end of Part 2 of the study, pigs were sent to a commercial facility for harvest and collection of standard carcass measurements. The pen of pigs was the experimental unit for all analyses which were carried out using the PROC MIXED procedure of SAS (v. 9.2; SAS Inst. Inc., Cary, NC). For the nursery period (Part 1), data were analyzed as a randomized complete block design with the model including the fixed effect of SID Lysine Level and the random effect of block. Parts 2 and 3 were analyzed as a split-plot design with the model including the fixed effects of SID Lysine Level (main plot), Number of Dietary Phases (subplot), and the interaction, and the random effects of block and block by SID Lysine Level interaction. During the nursery period, there was no effect (P > 0.05) of lysine inclusion level on ADFI; however, BW, ADG and G:F showed a quadratic increase (P ≤ 0.05) with increasing dietary SID lysine level. Broken-line regression analysis (Robbins et al., 1979) showed breakpoints of 1.27% and 1.19 % SID lysine for ADG and G:F, respectively, suggesting that the SID lysine requirement for maximum growth performance in the nursery period for the population of pigs used in this research was between these 2 values. Subsequently, SID lysine level during the nursery period had no effect (P > 0.05) on ADG and ADFI in the growing-finishing period. Pigs fed the lowest levels of SID lysine in the nursery were lighter (P ≤ 0.05) at the start of the growing-finishing period than those fed the higher lysine levels. However, there was no difference (P > 0.05) between the nursery SID lysine level treatments for live weight at the end of finishing period which was measured at a fixed time. Gain:feed during the growing-finishing period was greater (P ≤ 0.05) for the pigs fed the lowest level of lysine during the nursery period, than the pigs fed the highest SID lysine levels. There were no (P > 0.05) SID lysine level by number of dietary phases treatment interaction for any of the measurements. There was no effect (P > 0.05) of the number of dietary phases fed during growing-finishing period on growth performance during that period. In addition, there was no effect (P > 0.05) of nursery dietary SID lysine or number of dietary phases fed in growing-finishing on wean-to-finish growth performance, or on carcass characteristics. This study has provided estimates of the SID lysine requirements for the population of pigs that were used in this research. In addition, this research has shown that pigs will compensate after a period of restricted growth in the nursery due to feeding lysine deficient diets and will reach slaughter weight at the same time as unrestricted pigs. This research also highlighted that the number of dietary phases fed in growing-finishing can be reduced from 5 to 3 without any adverse effects of growth performance or carcass characteristics. These 3 findings offer producers options to develop nutritional programs over the wean-to-finish period to minimize feed costs and improve returns.

Graduation Semester

2019-12

Type of Resource

text

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Copyright and License Information

Copyright 2019 Andres Fernando Tolosa Russi

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