Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:52:51.457Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of simultaneous reductions of food intake and dietary protein concentration on the growth and carcass quality of bacon pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

M. F. Fuller
Affiliation:
Bowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
P. R. English
Affiliation:
School of Agriculture, University of Aberdeen, King Street, Aberdeen
R. M. Livingstone
Affiliation:
Bowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB
R. M. J. Crofts
Affiliation:
Bowett Research Institute, Bucksburn, Aberdeen AB2 9SB

Summary

Diets containing 10·5, 13, 15·5 or 18% protein were formulated by progressively replacing barley by a 2:1 mixture of soya-bean meal and fish meal. Each diet was given at three levels of intake proportional to (body weight) 0·73. A total of 144 pigs were used at two centres.

Growth rate increased with food intake at each protein level, but to the greatest extent with the 13% crude protein (CP) diet. Growth rate also increased with protein level; the results suggested that there would be no further improvement above 18% CP. The effects of protein concentrationon food conversion generally reflected those on daily gain.

Carcass fatness, estimated by both midline and introscope measurements of fat thickness and by specific gravity, increased significantly with the intake of all but the 18% protein diet. When theeffects of food intake were taken into account, carcass fatness increased steadily with reductions in protein level down to 13%; the reduction from 13 to 10·5% produced a much greaterincrease in fatness.

The reductions in daily food intake necessary to achieve equal carcass fatness as protein level wasreduced were of the order of 0·1 kg per 1% CP from 18% to 13% CP, but ofthe order of 0·3 kg per 1% CP below 13%.

Differences between the sexes were greatest at high protein concentration; significant differences between the centres were found only with the low protein diets.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1976

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Agricultural Reseabch Council (1967). The Nutrient Requirements of Farm Livestock. No. 3 Pigs. London: Agricultural Research Council.Google Scholar
Blair, R., Dent, J. B., English, P. R. & Raeburn, J. R. (1969). Protein, lysine and feed intake level effects on pig growth. 2. Effects on carcass composition and quality. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 73, 395415.Google Scholar
Fuller, M. F. (1971). Feeding for lean meat-feed intake, protein level and carcass quality relationships. Proceedings of 1st Symposium on Pig Nutrition, Taiwan. pp. 8290.Google Scholar
Fuller, M. F. & Boyne, A.W. (1972). The effects of environmental temperature on the growth and metabolism of pigs given different amounts of food. 2. Energy metabolism. British Journal of Nutrition 28, 373–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harrington, G. (1958). Pig Carcass Evaluation. Technical Communication of the Commonwealth Bureau of Animal Breeding and Genetics, no. 12, p. 5.Google Scholar
Kotarbińska, M. (1969). Badanai nad Przemianq, Energii u Rosnących Świń. Wydawnictwa Wlasne Instytut Zootechniki, Wroclaw no. 238.Google Scholar
Meat and Livestock Commission (1971). Pig Carcass Classification.Google Scholar
Mitchell, H. H. (1962). Comparative Nutrition of Man and Domestic Animals, p. xviii. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Morgan, J. T., Green, F. R., Costain, R. A. & Williams, E. F. (1959). Growth, economy of feed utilization and carcass quality in pigs in relation to dietary protein level and antibiotic administration. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 52, 170–6.Google Scholar
Vanschoubroek, F., De Wilde, R. & Lampo, Ph. (1967). The quantitative effects of feed restriction in fattening pigs on weight gain, efficiency of feed utilization and baekfat thickness. Animal Production. 9, 6774.Google Scholar
Wahlstrom, R. C. (1954). The effect of penicillin and B vitamins on the growth ofpigs fed different levels of protein. Journal of Animal Science 13, 918–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar