Diet nutrient digestibility and growth performance of weaned pigs fed field pea

Abstract Text: Increasing cost of soybean meal (SBM) and cereal grains make pulse seeds attractive alternative feedstuffs. However, formulators place unjustified restrictions on pulse seed inclusion in diets, especially for young pigs. To explore, young pigs were fed pelleted wheat-based diets including 0, 10, 20, 30, and 40% yellow field pea (Pisum sativum L.) in substitution of up to 30% SBM and 10% wheat. Starting 1 wk after weaning at 19 d of age, 260 pigs (BW 8.5 kg) were housed in pens of 4. Pigs were fed Phase 1 test diets for 2 wk (d 0-14; 2.45 Mcal NE/kg, 5.0 g standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys/Mcal NE) and Phase 2 diets for 3 wk (d 15-35; 2.35 Mcal NE/kg, 4.2 g SID Lys/Mcal NE). Diets were balanced for NE by reducing canola oil and for SID AA by increasing crystalline AA. Data were analysed as a repeated measures using MIXED procedure and orthogonal contracts; pen was the experimental unit. Increasing inclusion of field pea linearly reduced (P<0.001) apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of GE from 87 to 85% and of CP from 83 to 77% in Phase 1 diets, and linearly reduced (P<0.05) ATTD of CP from 84 to 83% in Phase 2 diets. Increasing inclusion of field pea quadratically reduced (P<0.001) diet NE values from 2.47 to 2.36 Mcal/kg as fed in Phase 1 and linearly reduced (P<0.001) diet NE values from 2.39 to 2.34 Mcal/kg as fed in Phase 2 diets. For d 0 to 7, increasing inclusion of field pea linearly reduced (P<0.01) ADG from 174 to 125 g and G:F from 0.63 to 0.45, but did not affect (P>0.05) ADFI. Growth performance was not affected for d 8 to 14 and 15 to 21. Increasing inclusion of field pea quadratically increased (P<0.05) ADG from 680 to 720 g and ADFI from 1,116 to 1,158 g for d 22 to 28. For d 29 to 35, increasing inclusion of field pea linearly increased (P<0.05) ADG from 737 to 793 g, but did not affect (P>0.05) ADFI or G:F. Overall (d 0 to 35), increasing dietary inclusion of field pea did not affect (P>0.05) ADG, ADFI, or G:F. In conclusion, up to 40% field pea can entirely replace SBM in nursery diets formulated to equal NE value and SID AA content without reducing growth performance after a 7-d adaptation.

Keywords: Field pea, Growth performance, Weaned pig