311
Effect of dietary level of spray dried plasma on performance of weaned pigs
Weaned pigs (average age at weaning, 21 ± 2 d; average BW at weaning, 6.3 ± 0.9 kg) used in three different experiments were fed one of three dietary treatments for 14 d after weaning to determine if pig performance was affected by diets containing different levels (0, 2.5, or 5.0%) of spray dried plasma (SDP). All diets were fed ad libitum in mash form and were formulated to contain 1.60% lysine and 3.41 Mcal ME/kg. Diets were non-medicated and contained corn, soybean meal, dried whey, and 8.04% soy protein concentrate (SPC) that was partially or completely replaced by 2.5% or 5.0% SDP on an equal lysine basis. In experiment 1, all pigs were weaned as a single group into a single nursery room. In experiment 2 and 3, pigs were weaned as two separate groups approximately two weeks apart into two different nursery rooms. Nursery rooms were not cleaned and sanitized prior to the start of the experiments to increase potential environmental stress. There were 8, 10, and 11 pens assigned per dietary treatment in experiment 1, 2, and 3, respectively, with 5 pigs per pen in experiment 1 and 2 and 5 or 6 pigs per pen in experiment 3. No pigs died during any of the experiments. Final data was analyzed for the effects of experiment and level of SDP as prior analysis indicated no significant (P > 0.20) interaction of experiment by dietary level of SDP for any variables indicating performance response to SDP was consistent by experiment. Results reported in the table are least squares means for dietary level of SDP.
|
Dietary SDP, % |
|
||
Variable1 |
0.0 |
2.5 |
5.0 |
Pooled SEM |
ADG, g |
122 |
158 |
187 |
5.01 |
ADFI, g |
201 |
236 |
255 |
5.34 |
Gain:feed |
0.60 |
0.67 |
0.73 |
0.01 |
Final BW, kg |
8.06 |
8.58 |
8.98 |
0.13 |
1 For all variables dietary level of SDP was linear (P < 0.01). |
||||
ADG, ADFI, gain:feed and final BW of pigs increased linearly (P < 0.01) as dietary level of SDP was increased in the diet. Final BW of pigs fed diets with 5% SDP for 14 days post-weaning was approximately 0.9 kg greater than that of pigs fed the control diet containing SPC. In conclusion, the results of these experiments confirm those of past studies that both ADG and ADFI of pigs increased as dietary level of SDP was increased.
Keywords: pigs, environmental stress, spray dried plasma.