1351
Acceptance and palatability of different inclusion levels of protein solutions by feed restricted and non-restricted nursery pigs
The aim of the present work was to study the productive performance of nursery pigs when sweet milk whey (SMW) is replaced by porcine digestive peptides (PDP; 620 g/kg of CP, Bioibérica SA, Palafolls, Barcelona, Spain). A total of 240 pigs were randomly distributed after weaning into 2 groups (12 pens / group) depending on the presence of SMW or PDP on their diets. The SMW group was fed a pre-starter (0 - 14 d) and starter (15 - 33 d) diet with 142 g/kg and 49 g/kg SMW respectively; the PDP group was offered an iso-caloric and iso-proteic diet with 20 g/kg of PDP and 300 g/kg of wheat replacing dairy products. Feed intake and body weight were measured weekly in order to calculate average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and gain: feed ratio (GFR). A choice test and one-feeder test of 30 min each were performed in another group of animals 3 weeks after weaning (36 pen pairs) to evaluate the preference and acceptance for both diets respectively. Feed intake was recorded by measuring the initial and final weight of the feeders. SMW and PDP diet positions were balance across pig’s pairs. Data were analyzed with ANOVA using the GLM procedure (performance values) or the MIXED procedure (preference and acceptance values) of the statistical package SAS. Despite clear differences on feed preference (211 vs. 77 g; P = 0.039) and acceptance (287 vs. 192 g; P = 0.001) between diets with or without whey respectively, no effects were observed on performance at the end of the nursery period (20.92 vs. 21.13 kg for BW, 0.62 vs. 0.63 kg/d for ADFI and 0.52 vs. 0.53 kg/d for ADG). Despite the reduced preferences and acceptance observed, the use of dairy products appears to be unnecessary if a high valuable protein source is offered during nursery.
Keywords:
Familiarity
Feed preferences
Lactose