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Effect of Food Intake and Moisture Content on Weight Gain, Digestibility of Diet Constituents and N-Retention of Swine^{1, 2,}

Rutgers—The State University, New Brunswick, New Jersey

Abstract

Two conventional metabolism trials, each utilizing a 2 x 2 factorial design with a fully balanced crossover feature, were conducted to study the effects of level of food intake (8 and 12% of metabolic body size) and moisture level (dry—no water added, and wet—1 part water: 1 part feed by weight). A fortified corn-soybean meal diet was fed to 12 barrows in each trial. In both trials, the rate of gain was greater (P<.01) for the barrows on the high food intake.

In trial 1, but not in trial 2, the addition of water to the diet increased (P<.05) average daily weight gain and food efficiency. In both trials, apparent dry matter, protein and energy digestibility were unaffected by the level of intake or of diet moisture content. However, it was observed in both trials that when the diets were fed in a dry form, the digestion coefficients of all three components were higher (P<.10) for the low intake as compared to the high intake. When the diets were fed in the wet form, there was no difference in the digestibility values. In both trials, pigs fed the higher level of intake retained more (P<.01) N than pigs fed the lower level, but the percent of total N retained was not significantly different between levels of intake. The addition of water to the diet did not affect any of the N-balance criteria; however, there was a significant (P<.01) water x intake interaction in trial 2 with a similar trend in trial 1. That is, the N-balance values obtained from the barrows on the low intake were higher when the diet was dry while the values were higher on the high intake when the diet was wet. Although the evidence is not conclusive, due to differences in experimental conditions between the two trials, it appears that the level of food intake and moisture level in the diet should be considered when conducting metabolism trials with swine.

¹ Paper of the Journal Series, New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station; Rutgers—The State University, New Brunswick.

² The authors wish to thank Mr. Frank Bielk for chemical analyses and Dr. Ronald Snee for help with statistical analyses.

³ Present address: Department of Animal Science, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg.

⁴ Present address: Department of Animal Science, University of Illinois, Urbana.