No carryover effect of feeding spray dried plasma to weanling pigs in phase 1 on energy and nutrient digestibility in phase 2 were observed

Spray dried plasma (SDP) is commonly used in phase 1 diets for weanling pigs, but it is unknown if SDP affects energy or nutrient digestibility of the subsequent diet. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to test the null-hypothesis that inclusion of SDP in a phase 1 diet fed to weanling pigs will not affect energy or nutrient digestibility of a phase 2 diet without SDP. In experiment 1, 16 newly weaned barrows with an initial body weight (BW) of 4.47 +/- 0.35 kg were randomly allotted to a phase 1 diet without SDP or a diet including 6% SDP for 14 d. Both diets were fed on an ad libitum basis. All pigs (BW: 6.92 +/- 0.42 kg) had a T-cannula surgically inserted in the distal ileum, moved to individual pens, and fed the common phase 2 diet for 10 d with ileal digesta collection on days 9 and 10. In experiments 2, 24 newly weaned barrows (initial BW: 6.60 +/- 0.22 kg) were randomly allotted to phase 1 diets without SDP or a diet containing 6% SDP for 20 d. Both diets were provided on an ad libitum basis. All pigs (BW: 9.37 +/- 1.40 kg) were then moved to individual metabolism crates and fed the common phase 2 diet for 14 d with the initial 5 d being the adaptation period to the diet followed by 7 d of fecal and urine collection according to the marker-to-marker procedure. The apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of starch, crude protein (CP), amino acids (AA), and acid hydrolyzed ether extract (AEE), was determined in experiment 1, and the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (GE), insoluble-, soluble-, and total-dietary fiber, Ca, and P, and the retention and biological value of N were determined in experiment 2. The statistical model included diet as fixed effect and block and pig within block as random effects. Results of experiment 1 indicated that the AID of starch, CP, AEE, and AA in phase 2 were not affected by phase 1 treatment. Results of experiment 2 indicated that the ATTD of GE, insoluble-, soluble-, and total-dietary fiber, Ca, and P and N retention and biological value in phase 2 were also not affected by phase 1 treatment. In conclusion, feeding weanling pigs a diet with 6% SDP in phase 1 did not affect the AID or ATTD of energy and nutrients in a phase 2 diet without SDP. Lay Summary Highly digestible and palatable ingredients are usually included in diets for newly weaned pigs to improve feed consumption and nutrient digestibility. Weaning typically causes a decrease in digestion and nutrient absorption, but inclusion of sprayed dried plasma (SDP) in phase 1 diets to weanling pigs may increase nutrient digestibility. However, data to demonstrate possible effects of including SDP to a phase 1 diet for newly weaned pigs on nutrient digestibility of a phase 2 diet without SDP are limited. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that inclusion of SDP in a phase 1 diet fed to weanling pigs does not affect the energy or nutrient digestibility of a phase 2 diet without SDP. Results of the two experiments demonstrated that weaned pigs fed a phase 1 diet with 6% SDP did not increase nutrient or energy digestibility of phase 2 compared with pigs fed diets without SDP, indicating that SDP had no carryover effects on nutrient digestibility. Therefore, it appears that feeding SDP in phase 1 diets to weanling pigs does not cause long-term intestinal changes that will affect digestibility of nutrients and energy in phase 2. Feeding weanling pigs a diet with 6% sprayed dried plasma in phase 1 did not affect digestibility of energy or nutrients of a phase 2 diet without sprayed dried plasma.

Automated summary

The objective of this study was to determine if including 6% SDP in a phase 1 diet for weanling pigs would affect the energy and nutrient digestibility of a phase 2 diet without SDP. The results showed that including 6% SDP in the phase 1 diet did not affect the energy or nutrient digestibility of the phase 2 diet.