Journal
ARCHIVES OF ANIMAL NUTRITION
Volume 62, Issue 5, Pages 343-358Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/17450390802327811
Keywords
protein; pigs; urea; ammonia; growth; post-weaning diarrhoea
Categories
Funding
- Australian Research Council
- Danish Pig Production
- Department of Agriculture and Food of Western Australia
- Wandalup Farms Ltd
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This study evaluated the effects of feeding pigs low protein (LP) diets for different lengths of time after weaning on indices of protein fermentation, the incidence of post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD), growth performance, and total-tract apparent digestibility. Sixty weaner pigs weighing 6.1+/-0.13kg (mean+/-SEM) were used in a completely randomised design having five treatments: (i) a high protein diet (HP, 243g/kg CP) fed for 14d after weaning (HP14); (ii) a low protein diet (LP, 173g CP/kg) fed for 5d after weaning (LP5); (iii) LP diet fed for 7d after weaning (LP7); (iv) LP diet fed for 10d after weaning (LP10), and (v) LP diet fed for 14d after weaning (LP14). All diets were supplemented with lysine, methionine, tryptophan and threonine, with all LP diets additionally fortified with crystalline isoleucine and valine to conform to a proposed ideal amino acid (AA) pattern. A second-stage diet (215g CP/kg) was fed to pigs at the conclusion of each treatment. None of the diets contained antimicrobial compounds. Feeding a LP diet, regardless of duration of feeding, decreased plasma urea nitrogen (p<0.001) and faecal ammonia-nitrogen (p<0.001) contents. Feeding a LP diet, irrespective of feeding duration, decreased the incidence of PWD at day 8 after weaning (p=0.044), and pigs fed diets LP7, LP10 and LP14 had firmer faeces (p=0.030, p=0.047 and p=0.007, respectively) between days 10 and 12 after weaning. Treatments LP5, LP7, LP10 and LP14 did not reduce (p>0.05) growth performance up to 106 days after weaning compared to pigs fed the HP diet. Total-tract apparent digestibility of dry matter, energy and crude protein were similar (p>0.05) between treatments. Our data suggest that feeding a LP diet, supplemented with AA to conform to an ideal AA pattern, for 7-10 days after weaning can reduce PWD in pigs fed antibiotic-free diets without compromising production.
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