Effect of Diet Complexity and Specialty Protein Source on Nursery Pig Performance

Seven-hundred twenty nursery pigs (PIC C-29×359, initial BW 5.83 kg and 18-20d of age) with 10 pigs/pen and 12 replications/treatment were used in a 42-d growth study evaluating diet type (DT; complex vs. simple) and protein source (PS; fish meal, HP300, or HP800) on growth performance. Complex diets contained 20 and 10% lactose, while simple diets contained 12 and 5% lactose in phase 1 and 2, respectively. Complex diets contained 10% oat meal in both phases, while all diets contained 2% plasma in Phase 1 only. Soybean meal and SID Lys levels were equal within phase by adjusting fish meal, HP300, and HP800. Pens were allotted to 6 treatments in a 2×3 factorial arrangement with main effects of DT and PS. Dietary treatments were the fixed effect and block and room served as the random effect. Phase 1 was budgeted at 2.27 kg/pig and Phase 2 was fed thereafter until d-21. A common diet was fed from d 21-42. For the overall treatment period (d0-21), pigs fed complex had improved G:F (P=0.040) compared to pigs fed simple diets, but ADG and ADFI were not affected. Overall, (d0-42), no differences in growth were observed among treatments. In summary, the 3 specialty protein sources used resulted in similar growth. The complex diet had small positive benefits on growth during the first 21d; however, the benefits were not evident at the end of the common diet period. The general lack of responses to DT or PS could be related to health, a common ingredient quality issue or lower than expected performance from this facility.

	Complex			Simple			Probability, P<
	Fish meal	HP300	HP800	Fish meal	HP300	HP800	DT×PS	DT	PS
Phase 1, %	7.75	10.25	10.45	7.75	10.25	10.45
Phase 2, %	6.00	8.21	8.35	6.00	8.20	8.37
d 0,kg	5.83	5.85	5.83	5.83	5.83	5.84	0.197	0.695	0.413
d 21,kg	9.74	9.76	9.56	9.55	9.57	9.54	0.707	0.160	0.610
d 42,kg	21.42	21.38	21.35	21.07	21.18	21.51	0.719	0.622	0.831
d 0 to 21
ADG,g	186	186	178	177	178	176	0.755	0.169	0.650
ADFI,g	247	253	248	244	255	248	0.927	0.973	0.279
G:F	0.76	0.73	0.72	0.72	0.70	0.71	0.462	0.040	0.131
d 0 to 42
ADG,g	370	370	367	363	366	373	0.625	0.730	0.866
ADFI,g	514	506	507	498	508	514	0.363	0.766	0.868
G:F	0.72	0.73	0.73	0.73	0.72	0.73	0.269	0.581	0.963

SEM=BW d0(0.160);d21(0.299);d42(0.320);d0-21 ADG(7.6),ADFI(9.8),G:F(0.408); d0-42 ADG(9.3),ADFI(8.4),G:F(0.011).