Dietary energy density and the performance characteristics of growing pigs

Optimal nutritional management of growing pigs is constrained by lack of quantitative information on the response of animals between 30 and 110 kg live weight to dietary energy content. Under 'ideal' conditions modern genotypes appear to adjust feed intake to maintain a constant DE intake over a much wider range of dietary energy concentrations than previously thought (Mullan et al, 1998). However, under commercial pen conditions, voluntary feed intake is lower, pigs respond in terms of both growth rate and feed conversion to dietary DE density considerably above the levels currently thought to maximise biological and economic responses. The present study was designed to provide information on the response of growing pigs to dietary energy content under ideal and commercial housing conditions for two growth periods 30-60kg liveweight and 60-100kg liveweight. The results of the pigs kept under individual (ideal) housed conditions were consistent with the literature in that they adjusted their voluntary feed intake with digestible energy density to maintain a constant energy intake. The results of the pigs kept in groups (commercial) housing conditions tended to increase their daily energy intake as the energy density of the feed increased. This increase in energy intake improved the growth rate of the pigs and increased the fat deposition of those pigs. Economic analysis of the experiments involving pigs in groups indicates that formulating diets to a least cost per megajoule of digestible energy is not the most profitable point to set the digestible energy density. Modelling programs need to be used to determine where the least cost per unit of growth of the pig occurs. This is the most economical digestible energy density to formulate too. This will have major impact on the cost of production of piggery operations as the cost of energy is the single most important parameter in the cost of producing a pig

Spectrum and vibrational predissociation of the HF dimer. I. Bound and quasibound states

Contains fulltext : 13891.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Singlet-triplet excitation spectrum of the CO-He complex. I. Potential surfaces and bound-bound CO(a (3)Pi <- X-1 Sigma(+)) transitions

Contains fulltext : 13885.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Spectrum and vibrational predissociation of the HF dimer. II. Photodissociation cross sections and product state distributions

Contains fulltext : 13892.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Ab initio prediction of the vibration-rotation-tunneling spectrum of HCl-(H2O)(2)

Contains fulltext : 14006.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Singlet-triplet excitation spectrum of the CO-He complex. II. Photodissociation and bound-free CO(a (3)Pi <- X-1 Sigma(+)) transitions

Contains fulltext : 13886.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Diabatic intermolecular potentials and bound states of open-shell atom-molecule dimers: Application to the F(P-2)-H-2 complex

Contains fulltext : 13887.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Water pair potential of near spectroscopic accuracy. I. Analysis of potential surface and virial coefficients

Contains fulltext : 14099.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access