The effect of reduced whey protein and semi-moisture diet with different energy content on growth performance and nutrient digestibility in newly weaned piglets
This study aimed to investigate the effects of reduced whey protein and semi-moisture with varying calorie content diet on growth performance, nutrient digestibility in weaned piglets, and moisture content of different forms of feed. A total of 75 weaned piglets ((Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc, 28 d old, 7.17 ± 0.15 kg body weight) were randomly allocated into 3 treatment groups (5 replicate pens per treatment, each pen containing 5 weaned piglets; n = 25/treatment) for 35 d. The 3 treatments were: (1) Control (whey protein) by pellet, (2) Control (whey protein with energy modify) fed semi-moisture diet by extrusion, and (3) No whey protein with energy up fed semi-moisture diets by extrusion. Results revealed that the average daily gain, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio didn’t change through the supplementation of semi moisture diet with different levels of whey protein and energy diet in weaned piglets. At wk 5 of the feeding trial, nitrogen digestibility was lower in energy-controlled and semi-moisture feed than in the control and no whey protein modified energy semi-moisture feed. Digestion of dry matter and energy was unaffected by diet energy or moisture. Semi moisture feed group contain less dry matter compared with the control group in both the second and fifth group. And moisture content in semi moisture feed with whey protein was lower than semi moisture feed without whey protein in second week which alter in fifth week. Here we found that semi moisture diet with different levels of whey protein and energy diet showed similar growth performance to control feed in weaned piglets. But extrusion can reduce the digestibility of semi-moisture feed with whey protein. However, semi moisture feed without whey protein may be provided to newly weaned piglets.
Key Words: growth performance, nutrient digestibility, whey protein, weaning pig.
Published in the proceedings of the 10th Symposium on Gut Health in Production of Food Animals 2022, St. Louis, USA.
