The selection by young pigs of dietary cereal and protein fractions supplemented with amino acids to idealise protein contents

Extract

Choice-feeding has the potential to replace the conventional practice of formulating and manufacturing a series of complete diets for growing pigs. One option is to allow the pig to select a diet from a cereal mixture and a protein rich mixture. However differences in feed ingredient composition, for example amino acid imbalances may influence selection, nutrient intake and performance. The aim was to determine if young growing pigs could select a diet to meet energy and ideal protein requirements, from cereal and protein rich feed ingredients, both of which were supplemented with synthetic amino acids to idealise for apparent ileal digestible (AID) protein.