Effect of Fish Meal Source on Nursery Pig Performance

Abstract Text:

A total of 350 pigs (DNA Line 200 × 400; initially 6.5 ± 0.09 kg BW; 21 d of age) were used in a 14-d experiment to determine the effects of fish meal source on nursery pig performance. Pigs were randomly allotted to pens at weaning (d 0) and were fed a common starter diet for 7 d. On d 7, pens of pigs were randomly allotted by BW to 1 of 7 dietary treatments (10 pens/treatment and 5 pigs/pen) in a 2×3+1 factorial. Diets were corn-soybean meal-based that contained 10% dried whey and none (Control) or 3 or 6% fish meal from 1 of 3 sources (IPC 790 Fish Meal, The Scoular Company, Minneapolis, MN; Special Select Menhaden Fish Meal, Omega Proteins, Houston, TX; and Daybrook LT Prime Menhaden Fish Meal, Daybrook Fisheries, Morristown, NJ). All fish meal sources were from the 2014 catch year. All samples of fish meal contained less than 0.15% total volatile N suggesting high quality. A source × level interaction (P<0.05) for ADG and final BW was observed as increasing levels of IPC 790 improved ADG; however, pigs fed Special Select and LT Prime fish meal only saw improvement when 3% was included. While no differences were observed between treatments for ADFI, there was a source × level interaction for G:F (Linear P=0.005). This was a result of G:F linearly improving as IPC 790 increased, with pigs fed 3% Special Select or LT Prime having similar performance to 6% IPC 790, but no further improvement thereafter. In conclusion, adding 3% of any fish meal source improved ADG and G:F; however, only pigs fed IPC 790 had a further improvement in ADG when 6% was fed.

		IPC 790		Special Select		LT Prime		Source × Level
Item	CTRL	3%	6%	3%	6%	3%	6%	Lin.	Quad.
D 0-14
ADG, g	249	266	288	279	239	268	264	0.003	0.059
ADFI, g	329	344	354	353	330	332	335	0.247	0.323
G:F	0.76	0.78	0.81	0.79	0.73	0.81	0.79	0.005	0.130
Final BW, kg	9.98	10.23	10.52	10.40	9.87	10.26	10.19	0.034	0.192

Keywords: fish meal, growth, nursery pig