Journal of Animal Science, Vol 77, Issue 7 1769-1776, Copyright © 1999 by American Society of Animal Science

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Growth performance and carcass traits of pigs subjected to marginal dietary restrictions during the grower phase

L. I. Chiba, H. W. Ivey, K. A. Cummins and B. E. Gamble
Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, Auburn University, AL 36849-5415, USA. lchiba@acesag.auburn.edu

Sixty-four individually housed pigs were used to investigate the effect of amino acid content of finisher diets on growth performance of pigs subjected to marginal dietary amino acid restrictions (80% of the 1988 NRC lysine recommendation) during the grower phase. In each of the two trials, low- and high-amino-acid grower diets (.421 and .765 g lysine/MJ DE, respectively) and four finisher diets (.421, .516, .612, and .707 g lysine/MJ DE) were randomly assigned within sex to 16 gilts and 16 castrated males weighing 23.0 +/- 2.0 kg in a 2 x 4 factorial arrangement of treatments. The average weight of pigs after a completion of diet change was 50.4 +/- 2.1 kg. All pigs were slaughtered at an average weight of 105.2 +/- 4.1 kg. Ultrasound backfat thickness was measured at the time of diet change and before slaughter. Pigs were allowed ad libitum access to feed and water. During the grower phase, pigs fed the high-amino-acid diet grew faster (P < .001) and more efficiently (P < .001) and had less ultrasound backfat (P < .001) than those fed the low-amino-acid diet. The grower diet had no effect on weight gain during the finisher phase. Consequently, pigs fed the high-amino-acid grower diet had better overall weight gain (P < .01) than those fed the low-amino-acid diet. The rate of lean accretion was, however, similar between the two groups of pigs. Furthermore, pigs fed the low-amino-acid grower diet seemed to have better carcass quality, as indicated by less ultrasound backfat (P < .01) and larger carcass longissimus muscle area (P < .05). Average and 10th rib carcass backfat decreased linearly (P < or = .05) and lean accretion rate improved linearly (P < .05) as the amino acid content of finisher diets increased, but there was no grower x finisher diet interaction in these and other response criteria. Although no evidence of compensatory weight gain was observed, it is possible that compensatory lean tissue growth may have occurred in pigs subjected to early amino acid restrictions at the expense of fatty tissue growth.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. K. Linneen, S. S. Dritz, R. D. Goodband, M. D. Tokach, J. M. DeRouchey, and J. L. Nelssen Effects of frequent out-of-feed events on growth performance of nursery and grow-finish pigs J Anim Sci, August 1, 2007; 85(8): 2043 - 2047. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. A. Lovatto, D. Sauvant, J. Noblet, S. Dubois, and J. van Milgen Effects of feed restriction and subsequent refeeding on energy utilization in growing pigs J Anim Sci, December 1, 2006; 84(12): 3329 - 3336. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Fabian, L. I. Chiba, L. T. Frobish, W. H. McElhenney, D. L. Kuhlers, and K. Nadarajah Compensatory growth and nitrogen balance in grower-finisher pigs J Anim Sci, September 1, 2004; 82(9): 2579 - 2587. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. S. Edmonds and D. H. Baker Effect of dietary protein fluctuations and space allocation on performance and carcass quality of growing-finishing pigs J Anim Sci, November 1, 2003; 81(11): 2783 - 2791. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Fabian, L. I. Chiba, D. L. Kuhlers, L. T. Frobish, K. Nadarajah, C. R. Kerth, W. H. McElhenney, and A. J. Lewis Degree of amino acid restrictions during the grower phase and compensatory growth in pigs selected for lean growth efficiency J Anim Sci, October 1, 2002; 80(10): 2610 - 2618. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]