Determining the effects of standardized ileal digestible tryptophan:lysine ratio and tryptophan source in diets containing dried distillers grains with solubles on growth performance and carcass characteristics of finishing pigs

A total of 2,290 pigs (PIC 1050 × 337; initially 157 lb) were used to determine the effect of tryptophan source (L-tryptophan vs. soybean meal) and increasing SID tryptophan:lysine ratio in diets containing 30% dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) on finishing pig performance. Pens of pigs were balanced by initial weight and randomly allotted to 1 of 7 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with 26 to 28 pigs per pen and 10 to 13 replications per treatment. Treatments were arranged as a 2 × 3 factorial with main effects of tryptophan source (L-tryptophan or soybean meal) and SID tryptophan:lysine ratio (18, 20, and 22% of lysine). The seventh treatment was a negative control diet formulated to a 16% SID tryptophan:lysine ratio.; Swine Day, Manhattan, KS, November 15, 201

Effects of increasing crystalline lysine and dietary fat on finishing pig growth performance

A total of 1,024 barrows (each initially 157 lb, PIC L337 x C22) were used in a 28-d study to evaluate the effects of increased crystalline amino acids (none versus 4.5 lb/ton of L-lysine HCl plus L-threonine to maintain the proper ratio relative to lysine) and added dietary fat (none, 3 or 6% choice white grease) on finishing pig growth performance. All experimental diets were formulated with a constant true ileal digestible lysine:ME ratio based on NRC, (1998) ingredient values for ME. A minimum true ileal digestible threonine:lysine ratio of 68% and a minimum true ileal digestible methionine + cystine:lysine ratio of 55% were used in diet formulation. There was no synthetic amino acid by added fat interactions. Increasing added fat increased (linear, P<0.01) ADG and improved F/G. Replacing soybean meal with crystalline amino acids had no affect on growth performance. This indicates that the increased amounts of L-lysine HCl and added L-threonine were used as efficiently as amino acids provided from soybean meal. Neither adding fat nor crystalline lysine affected feed cost/lb of gain using current ingredient prices. However, margin over feed cost (profit) increased as added fat increased because of the increased pig weight due to improved ADG. In summary, these results confirm the improved ADG and F/G when adding fat to finishing pig diets. Furthermore, 4.5 lb/ton of Llysine HCl and L-threonine can effectively replace soybean meal without negatively affecting growth performance of pigs from 157 to 217 lb

Evaluation of deleting crystalline amino acids from low-CP, amino acid-fortified diets on growth performance of nursery pigs from 15 to 25 lb

A total of 294 nursery pigs (PIC TR4 × 1050, initially 15.2 lb, 3 d postweaning) were used in a 28-d trial to evaluate the effects on growth performance of eliminating specific crystalline amino acids from a low-CP, amino acid-fortified diet. On d 3 after weaning, pigs were allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments. A 2-phase diet series was used, with treatment diets fed from d 0 to 14 and a common diet fed from d 14 to 28. All diets were in meal form. The formulation was based on data from previous trials in which fish meal was replaced with crystalline amino acids in the diet for 15- to 25-lb pigs. The objective of this trial was to determine which amino acids are required in this low-CP, amino acid-fortified diet. The positive control diet contained L-lysine HCl, DL-methionine, L-threonine, L-isoleucine, L-tryptophan, L-valine, L-glutamine, and L-glycine. The 6 treatments were (1) positive control, (2) positive control with L-isoleucine deleted from the diet, (3) positive control with L-tryptophan deleted, (4) positive control L-valine deleted, (5) positive control with L-glutamine and L-glycine deleted, and (6) positive control with L-isoleucine, L-tryptophan, L-valine, L-glutamine, and L-glycine deleted from diet (negative control). There were 7 pigs per pen and 7 pens per treatment. Pigs and feeders were weighed on d 0, 7, 14, 21, and 28 to calculate ADG, ADFI, and F/G. From d 0 to 14, pigs fed the positive control diet had improved (P < 0.03) ADG and ADFI compared with pigs fed the negative control or diets with L-tryptophan or L-valine deleted, with pigs fed the diet without crystalline glutamine and glycine being intermediate. The pigs fed the diet containing no crystalline isoleucine had similar (P > 0.40) ADG, ADFI, and F/G to pigs fed the positive control, but had improved (P < 0.03) ADG compared to the pigs fed the other 4 diets. For unknown reasons, when the common diet was fed from d 14 to 28, the deletion of crystalline isoleucine in the previous period caused a decrease (P < 0.01) in ADG compared to the positive control. Pigs from the other treatment groups had similar (P > 0.12) ADG to the positive control. There were no differences (P > 0.10) in ADFI from d 14 to 28. Because of the decrease in ADG from d 0 to 14, pigs fed the negative control or diets without L-tryptophan or L-valine had decreased (P < 0.04) ADG for the overall trial (d 0 to 28) compared to pigs fed the positive control. ADFI from all treatment diets decreased compared to the positive control, although only the negative control group tested significantly (P 0.24) in F/G for the overall data. In conclusion, L-tryptophan and L-valine were needed in the low-CP, high amino acid-fortified nursery diet to achieve maximum growth performance from 15 to 25 lb. This suggests that the tryptophan:lysine and valine:lysine requirements are greater than 15 and 57% of lysine, respectively. The numerical decrease in performance when L-glutamine and L-glycine were removed from the diet during the first period suggests a need for nonessential nitrogen in the low-CP, amino acid-fortified diet or a benefit to one of these amino acids separate from its role as a nitrogen source

Effects of increasing crystalline lysine with other amino acids on growth performance of 85- to 135-lb gilts

A total of 1,134 gilts (each initially 85 lb, PIC L337 x C22) was used in a 28-d experiment to evaluate the effects of replacing soybean meal with up to 8 lb/ton of crystalline Llysine HCl with other crystalline amino acids on growth performance. Gilts were randomly allotted to one of six experimental diets. Diets were corn-soybean meal-based with 3% added fat. Diets included a negative control containing 3 lb/ton of L-lysine HCl and formulated to 0.90% true ileal digestible lysine. Two additional diets were formulated with 3 lb/ton Llysine to 1.0% true ileal digestible lysine but with or without crystalline threonine and methionine to compare threonine to lysine ratios of 60 versus 65% and methionine & cystine (TSAA) ratios of 55 vs. 60%. The three remaining diets contained 6, 7, or 8 lb/ton of Llysine HCl with crystalline threonine and methionine to provide the same ratios relative to lysine of 65 and 60%, respectively. Pigs fed the negative control diet (0.90 true ileal digestible lysine) had decreased ADG, poorer F/G, and were lighter at then end of the trial than pigs fed the diet containing 3 lb/ton L-lysine with added L-threonine and DL methionine (P<0.05). This indicates that diets containing 1.0% true ileal digestible lysine were not over the pigs’ lysine requirement. Pigs fed 1.0% true ileal digestible lysine with high threonine and TSAA ratios (65 and 60% relative to lysine, respectively) had similar ADG but tended to have better (P<0.08) F/G than those fed the lower threonine and TSAA ratios. Using 6, 7, or 8 lb/ton of Llysine HCl with added threonine and methionine in diets formulated to 1.0% true ileal digestible lysine had no effect on ADG or F/G, but did tend to decrease ADFI (linear, P<0.04; quadratic P<0.07). These results suggest that the use of up to 8 lb/ton of L-lysine HCl in conjunction with L-threonine and DL methionine to maintain proper amino acid to lysine ratios will not negatively affect pig performance. In addition, increasing the true ileal digestible threonine:lysine (60 to 65%) and TSAA:lysine ratios (55 to 60%) improved F/G in this experiment

Effects of increasing zinc from zinc sulfate or zinc hydroxychloride on finishing pig growth performance and carcass characteristics

Citation: Carpenter, C. B., Coble, K., Woodworth, J. C., DeRouchey, J. M., Tokach, M. D., Goodband, R. D., . . . Usry, J. L. (2016). Effects of increasing zinc from zinc sulfate or zinc hydroxychloride on finishing pig growth performance and carcass characteristics. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 141-141. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-301A variety of zinc sources are available for use in swine trace mineral premixes. However, more research is needed to compare zinc sources and dietary levels in growing and finishing pigs in a commercial environment. A total of 1008 pigs [TR4 × (Fast Large White × L02 PIC); initially 32.1 kg BW)] were used in a 103-d growth study to determine the effects of Zn source and level on finishing pig growth performance and carcass characteristics. The 6 dietary treatments were arranged as a 2 × 3 factorial with main effects of Zn source (ZnSO4 Agrium Advance Technology, Loveland, CO or Zn Hydroxychloride; IntelliBond Z®; Micronutrients, Indianapolis, IN) or level (50, 100, or 150 ppm added Zn). There was no additional Zn provided from the trace mineral premix. There were 21 pigs per pen and 8 pens per treatment. Overall, there were no Zn source × level interactions observed for ADG or ADFI, however G:F tended (linear, P = 0.069) to be poorer when pigs were fed increasing levels of Zn from ZnSO4. Overall, there were no Zn source effects for growth performance observed. For Zn level main effects, ADG was maximized (quadratic, P = 0.007) and ending BW was heaviest (quadratic, P = 0.011) when diets contained 100 ppm of Zn. Feed efficiency was poorer (linear, P = 0.006) when pigs were fed increasing levels of Zn. For carcass characteristics, pigs fed diets with Zn Hydroxychloride had heavier (P = 0.041) HCW than those fed ZnSO4. Also carcass yield increased (linear, P = 0.027) when pigs were fed increasing levels of Zn and HCW was maximized (quadratic, P = 0.006) when diets contained 100 ppm of Zn. These results suggest that a total of 100 ppm added Zn is enough to maximize ending BW, ADG and HCW, but G:F worsened as Zn level increased. Zn source did not impact growth performance; however, pigs fed Zn Hydroxychloride had increased HCW compared to those fed ZnSO4

Effects of dietary zinc source and level on nursery pig performance

Citation: Jordan, K. E., Gourley, K. M., Tokach, M. D., Goodband, R. D., Dritz, S. S., DeRouchey, J. M., . . . Usry, J. L. (2016). Effects of dietary zinc source and level on nursery pig performance. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 139-139. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-297A total of 360 pigs (initially 5.9 ± 0.14 kg BW) were used in a 28-d study to evaluate the effects of dietary Zn source and level on weanling pig growth performance. Pigs were randomly allotted to pen at weaning by initial BW. The pen was assigned in a completely randomized design to 1 of 9 dietary treatments arranged in a 2 × 4 + 1 factorial. There were 8 pens per treatment and 5 pigs per pen. The corn-soybean meal based diets consisted of a control diet containing 110 ppm Zn from ZnSO4 from the trace mineral premix or the control diet with 390, 890, 1890, or 2890 ppm added Zn from either tetrabasic Zn chloride (TBZC; Intellibond Z; Micronutrients, Indianapolis, IN) or ZnO. This provided diets with a total of 500, 1000, 2000, or 3000 ppm added Zn. A 3 phase diet series was used with treatment diets fed during Phase 1 (d 0 to 7), Phase 2 (d 7 to 21) and Phase 3 (d 21 to 28). There were no Zn source × level interactions or Zn source differences observed for growth performance. From d 0 to 21, increasing Zn increased (linear; P ? 0.05) ADG and ADFI with no difference in G:F. From d 21 to 28, pigs fed increasing Zn had increased (linear; P = 0.018) ADFI resulting in decreased G:F (quadratic; P = 0.041). Overall, from d 0 to 28, increasing Zn increased (linear; P ? 0.05) ADG and ADFI without influencing G:F. On d 28, fecal samples were collected from 3 pigs in each pen and analyzed for DM content. There was a tendency (P = 0.081) for a Zn source × level interaction as increasing Zn from TBZC decreased fecal DM, whereas no difference in fecal DM was observed for increasing Zn from ZnO. In conclusion, increasing dietary Zn up to 3000 ppm increased ADG and ADFI but no differences existed between sources evaluated

Effects of standardized ileal digestible tryptophan: lysine ratio on growth performance of nursery pigs

Citation: Goncalves, M. A. D., Nitikanchana, S., Tokach, M. D., Dritz, S. S., Bello, N. M., Goodband, R. D., . . . Woodworth, J. C. (2015). Effects of standardized ileal digestible tryptophan: lysine ratio on growth performance of nursery pigs. Journal of Animal Science, 93(8), 3909-3918. doi:10.2527/jas2015-9083Two experiments were conducted to estimate the standardized ileal digestible (SID) Trp:Lys ratio requirement for growth performance of nursery pigs. Experimental diets were formulated to ensure that lysine was the second limiting AA throughout the experiments. In Exp. 1 (6 to 10 kg BW), 255 nursery pigs (PIC 327 x 1050, initially 6.3 +/- 0.15 kg, mean +/- SD) arranged in pens of 6 or 7 pigs were blocked by pen weight and assigned to experimental diets (7 pens/diet) consisting of SID Trp: Lys ratios of 14.7%, 16.5%, 18.4%, 20.3%, 22.1%, and 24.0% for 14 d with 1.30% SID Lys. In Exp. 2 (11 to 20 kg BW), 1,088 pigs (PIC 337 x 1050, initially 11.2 kg +/- 1.35 BW, mean +/- SD) arranged in pens of 24 to 27 pigs were blocked by average pig weight and assigned to experimental diets (6 pens/diet) consisting of SID Trp: Lys ratios of 14.5%, 16.5%, 18.0%, 19.5%, 21.0%, 22.5%, and 24.5% for 21 d with 30% dried distillers grains with solubles and 0.97% SID Lys. Each experiment was analyzed using general linear mixed models with heterogeneous residual variances. Competing heteroskedastic models included broken-line linear (BLL), broken-line quadratic (BLQ), and quadratic polynomial (QP). For each response, the best-fitting model was selected using Bayesian information criterion. In Exp. 1 (6 to 10 kg BW), increasing SID Trp: Lys ratio linearly increased (P 24.0%]) SID Trp: Lys ratio. For G: F, the best-fitting model was a BLL in which the maximum G: F was estimated at 20.4% (95% CI: [14.3%, 26.5%]) SID Trp: Lys. In Exp. 2 (11 to 20 kg BW), increasing SID Trp: Lys ratio increased (P < 0.05) ADG and G: F in a quadratic manner. For ADG, the best-fitting model was a QP in which the maximum ADG was estimated at 21.2% (95% CI: [20.5%, 21.9%]) SID Trp: Lys. For G: F, BLL and BLQ models had comparable fit and estimated SID Trp: Lys requirements at 16.6% (95% CI: [16.0%, 17.3%]) and 17.1% (95% CI: [16.6%, 17.7%]), respectively. In conclusion, the estimated SID Trp: Lys requirement in Exp. 1 ranged from 20.4% for maximum G: F to 23.9% for maximum ADG, whereas in Exp. 2 it ranged from 16.6% for maximum G: F to 21.2% for maximum ADG. These results suggest that standard NRC (2012) recommendations may underestimate the SID Trp: Lys requirement for nursery pigs from 11 to 20 kg BW

Effects of Increasing Zinc from Two Different Sources on Nursery Pig Performance

A total of 360 weanling pigs (Line 400 × 200; DNA Genetics, Columbus, NE, initially 13.0 lb) were used in a 28-d trial to evaluate the effects of Zn source and level on nursery pig growth performance. Each treatment had 8 replicate pens with 5 pigs per pen. The 9 dietary treatments were arranged as 2 × 4 + 1 factorial and consisted of a control diet that contained 110 ppm Zn from ZnSO4 from the trace mineral premix or the control diet with 390, 890, 1,890, or 2,890 ppm added Zn from either TBZC (Intellibond Z; Micronutrients, Indianapolis, IN) or ZnO. This provided diets with a total of 500, 1,000, 2,000, or 3,000 ppm added Zn. Diets were fed in 3 phases from d 0 to 7, 7 to 21, and 21 to 28 with the first phase fed in pellet form and the others as meal. No Zn source by level interactions or Zn source differences were observed throughout this 28-d study. Overall, from d 0 to 28, increasing Zn increased (linear, P ≤ 0.05) ADG, ADFI, and d 28 BW. On d 28, fecal samples were collected from 3 pigs in each of the 8 pens per treatment and analyzed for DM content. There was a tendency (P = 0.08) for a Zn source by level interaction. As Zn from TBZC increased, fecal DM decreased, but for pigs fed increased Zn from ZnO there was no difference in fecal DM. In conclusion, up to 3,000 ppm Zn improved ADG and ADFI with no effect on F/G. There were no differences among pigs fed the different Zn sources, suggesting that either Zn source is effective at improving weanling pig growth performance

Effect of diet type and added copper on growth performance, carcass characteristics, total tract digestibility, gut morphology, and mucosal mRNA expression of finishing pigs

Citation: Coble, K., Burnett, D., Goodband, R. D., Gonzalez, J. M., Usry, J. L., Tokach, M. D., . . . Vaughn, M. A. (2016). Effect of diet type and added copper on growth performance, carcass characteristics, total tract digestibility, gut morphology, and mucosal mRNA expression of finishing pigs. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 140-141. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-299A total of 757 pigs (PIC 337 × 1050; initially 27.6 kg BW) were used in a 117-d experiment to determine the effects of added Cu (TBCC; tribasic copper chloride, IntelliBond C; Micronutrients, Inc., Indianapolis, IN) and diet type on growth performance, carcass characteristics, energy digestibility, gut morphology, and mucosal mRNA expression of finishing pigs. Pens of pigs were allotted to 1 of 4 dietary treatments, balanced on average pen weight in a randomized complete-block design with 26 to 28 pigs/pen and 7 replications/treatment. Treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with main effects of diet type, a corn-soybean meal-based diet (corn-soy) or a high byproduct diet (byproduct) with 30% distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and 15% bakery meal, and added Cu (0 (10 mg/kg basal) or 150 mg/kg added Cu). There were no Cu×diet type interactions for growth performance. Neither added Cu nor diet type significantly influenced overall growth performance, although adding Cu during the early finishing period tended to increase (P = 0.076) ADG compared to pigs fed none (0.85 vs. 0.83). However, NE caloric efficiency was improved (P = 0.001) for pigs fed the corn-soy diet compared to the byproduct diet (6.76 vs. 7.15 Mcal intake/kg BW gain). Pigs fed the corn-soy diet had improved carcass yield (P = 0.007; 74.33 vs. 73.19%) and HCW G:F (P = 0.011; 0.274 vs. 0.266), and tended to have increased HCW (P = 0.067; 94.60 vs. 92.65 kg) and HCW ADG (P = 0.056; 0.635 vs. 0.615 kg/d) compared to pigs fed the byproduct diet. A Cu×diet type interaction (P < 0.05) existed for DM and GE digestibility in phase 2 as added Cu improved digestibility of DM and GE in the corn-soy diet, but not in the byproduct diet. In phase 4, added Cu tended to increase DM and GE digestibility (P = 0.060) while pigs fed the byproduct diet had decreased DM and GE digestibility (P = 0.001) compared to the corn-soy diet. For gut morphology, pigs fed added Cu had decreased distal small intestine crypt depth (P = 0.017; 207 vs. 225 um) compared to those fed no added Cu. Furthermore, pigs fed added Cu had decreased (P = 0.032; 0.618 vs. 0.935) relative mRNA expression of intestinal fatty acid binding protein (iFABP) compared to those fed no added Cu. In summary, 150 mg/kg added TBCC did not significantly affect overall growth but did influence diet digestibility and some gut morphology or mRNA expression measurements. Feeding a high byproduct diet decreased yield, caloric efficiency, and diet digestibility