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Soybean meals and soy protein concentrates as main source of protein in phase 1 diets for piglets: growth performance data
In total, 192 weanling pigs were used to study the growth performance and incidence of post-weaning diarrhea (PWD) in piglets fed diets based on soybean meals (SBM) of different origins or soy protein concentrates (SPC) from 21 to 58 d of age. In phase 1 (21 to 49 d of age) piglets received one of 8 diets that differed in the source of soy protein used. Six of the diets were based (n = 2) on SBM from 3 different origins ((USA, Argentina (ARG), and Brazil (BRA)) and the other 2 diets were based on 2 SPC with 60 or 65% CP, respectively. All diets were isonutritive and contained the same amount of dietary CP from soy origin. In phase 2 (49 to 58 d of age) all pigs received a common commercial diet. In phase 1, growth performance was not affected by diet but PWD was higher in pigs fed the ARG SBM than in pigs fed the other diets (P < 0.05). From 28 to 35 d of age, piglets fed the SPC tended to grow faster (P = 0.056) than piglets fed the SBM. From 35 to 42 d of age piglets fed USA SBM showed higher ADG (P < 0.05) and better G:F ratio (P < 0.05) than the average of piglets fed the other diets. However, no differences among diets were observed in phase 2. Cumulatively (21 to 58 d of age), the only difference observed among treatments was for G:F ratio that tended to be better for pigs fed the USA SBM as compared with the average of pigs from all the other treatments (P = 0.064). Also, PWD was higher in piglets fed ARG SBM than in piglets fed the other diets (P < 0.01). In conclusion, soy source had little effect on performance of pigs but G:F ratio tended to be better in pigs fed SBM of USA origin and PWD was higher in pigs fed the ARG SBM. Therefore, the choice of soy source (SPC and SBM) and SBM origin (USA, ARG, and BRA) might depend at high extent on the objectives and the relative cost of available sources.
Keywords: piglet growth, soybean meal origin, soy protein concentrate