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The effect of increasing dietary betaine concentration on starter pig performance
Betaine (Vistabet) can act in the piglet by a number of biochemical pathways potentially sparing methionine and choline or act as an osmo-protectant which may be important in stressful or challenged situations such as weaning. An experiment was designed to investigate the impact of increasing dietary levels of betaine on performance of newly weaned piglets. Piglets (n = 360), weaned at approximately 18 to 21 d of age and weighed at 5.8 ± 0.16 kg were allocated at 10 pigs per pen (5 boar and 5 gilts) with 9 replicates per treatment. All pigs were fed a 2 phase program; phase 1 from weaning to d 7 and phase 2 from d 7 to d 21. Diets were formulated to meet all the nutrient requirements of the pig (NRC, 2012) and betaine was added at 4 treatment levels: 0 (T1), 0.75 (T2), 1.5 (T3) and 2.25 mg/kg (T4) in each phase at the expense of corn. From d 0 to d 21, there was a significant linear improvement in ADG (P = 0.009) and FCR (P = 0.001) with increasing betaine dose, but no significant effect on ADFI. The ADG and FCR from 0-21 d for T1, T2, T3 and T4 was 284, 295, 309 and 314 g/d respectively while FCR was 1.11, 1.07. 1.04, 1.02 respectively. In conclusion the addition of betaine to piglet diets from weaning to 21 days post-weaning improved ADG and FCR.
Keywords:
Piglet
Betaine