Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T06:57:25.653Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of food protein content on the performance of pigs previously given foods with low or moderate protein contents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

I. Kyriazakis ,
C. Stamataris ,
G. C. Emmans  and
C. T. Whittemore
I. Kyriazakis
Affiliation:
Edinburgh School of Agriculture, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
C. Stamataris
Affiliation:
Edinburgh School of Agriculture, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
G. C. Emmans
Affiliation:
Edinburgh School of Agriculture, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
C. T. Whittemore
Affiliation:
Edinburgh School of Agriculture, West Mains Road, Edinburgh EH9 3JG
Get access

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the ability of the pig to recover from the effects of a period on a food deficient in crude protein (CP). Forty young pigs were given free and continuous access to foods with either 150 (L) or 252 (M) g CP per kg in period 1 of the experiment, from 6·3 kg to 13·4 and 12·3 kg live weight respectively. These live weights were expected to give equal lipid-free empty body weights. In period 2, four males and four females from each of the period 1 treatments were given access to either M or a food with 377 g CP per kg (H) to a live weight of 30 kg, when the 32 pigs were killed.

Pigs on L took 11 (s.e. 0·6) days longer to complete period 1, and had, at the end of this period, 0·20 (s.e. 0·03) kg less protein and 1·20 (s.e. 0·06) kg more lipid in their bodies than the M pigs, at a common ash weight. In period 2, pigs from L grew at a faster rate (750 v. 633 (s.e.d. 20) g/day), ate food at the same rate (1115 v. 1085 (s.e.d. 35) g/day) and converted food more efficiently (0·676 v. 0·585 (s.e.d. 0·016) g gain per g food) than those from M. At 30·3 kg live weight the pigs from L had corrected their protein deficit relative to ash and reduced their fatness, so that they had the same protein: ash ratio and only 0·47 (s.e. 0·12) kg more lipid in their bodies than those from M. This was the result of a higher rate of gain of protein and water, a lower rate of lipid gain and similar rate of ash gain by the pigs from L than those from M. In the first 7 days of period 2 the pigs from L gained weight at 1·4 times the rate of those from M. In the final 7 days there was no significant effect of period 1 treatment on growth rate. The pigs from L given food H in period 2 were more efficient than those given M in period 2 (food conversion efficiency (FCE) values of 0·884 and 0·791 respectively; s.e.d. 0·027), but this difference was reversed in the final 7 days (FCE values of 0·521 and 0·603 respectively). t I is concluded from these results that a period of eating a food of low protein content produces a reduced protein: ash and an increased lipid: ash ratio in the body and reduced growth rate and efficiency. When subsequently pigs are given a food of sufficiently high protein content, the protein: ash and lipid: ash ratios return to normal. The repletion of labile protein reserves, with their associated water, leads to a substantial increase in the rate of live-weight gain. The lower lipid content of the gain leads to a high efficiency. The duration of these effects depends on the protein content of the food given.

Keywords

body compositionbody fatdietary proteingrowthpigs
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 52 , Issue 1 , February 1991 , pp. 165 - 173
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 1991

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 Research Council. 1981. The Nutrient Requirements of Pigs. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough.Google Scholar
Campbell, R. G. 1977. The response of early-weaned pigs to various protein levels in a high energy diet. Animal Production 24: 69–75.Google Scholar
Cole, D. J. A., Duckworth, J. E., Holmes, W. and Cuthbertson, A. 1968. Factors affecting voluntary feed intake in pigs. 3. The effect of a period of feed restriction, nutrient density of the diet and sex on intake, performance and carcass characteristics. Animal Produciton 10: 345–357.Google Scholar
Emmans, G. C. 1988. Genetic components of potential and actual growth. In Animal Breeding Opportunities, British Society of Animal Production Occasional Publication No. 12, pp. 153–181.Google Scholar
Emmans, G. C. and Fisher, C. 1986. Problems in nutritional theory. In Nutrient Requirements of Poultry and Nutrition Research, (ed. Fisher, C. and Boorman, K. N.), Poultry Symposium No. 19, pp. 9–39. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Hamilton, C. L. 1965. Control of food intake. In Physiological Controls and Regulations, (ed. Yamamoto, W. S. and Brobeck, J. R.), pp. 274–294. Saunders. Philadelphia.Google Scholar
Holt, L. E., Halac, E. and Kajdi, C. N. 1962. The concepts of protein stores and its implications in diet. Journal of the American Medical Association 181: 699–705.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kyriazakis, I. 1989. Growth, feed intake and diet selection in pigs: theory and experiments. Ph.D. Thesis University of Edinburgh.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Millward, D. J., Nnanyelugo, D. O. and Garlick, P. J. 1974. The effect on muscle protein metabolism of refeeding protein depleted rats. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 33: 115A–116A (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Millward, D. J., Nnanyelugo, D. O. and Garlick, P. J. 1975. Whole-body protein turnover in malnourished and rehabilitated rats. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 34: 33A–34A (Abstr.).Google ScholarPubMed
Owen, J. B., Ridgman, W. J. and Wyllie, D. 1971. The effect of food restriciton on subsequent voluntary intake of pigs. Animal Production 13: 537–546.Google Scholar
Ratcliffe, B. and Fowler, V. R. 1980. The effect of low birth weight and early undernutrition on subsequent development in pigs. Animal Production 30: 470 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Robinson, D. W. 1964. The plane of nutrition and compensatory growth in pigs. Animal Production 6: 227–236.Google Scholar
Stamataris, C., Hillyer, G. M., Whittemore, C. T., Emmans, G. C., Taylor, A. G. and Phillips, P. 1985. Performance and body composition of young pigs following a period of growth retardation by food restriction. Animal Production 40: 536 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Tullis, J. B. 1981. Protein growth in pigs. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar
Wallace, W. M. 1959. Nitrogen content of the body and its relation to retention and loss of nitrogen. Federation Proceedings 19: 1125–1130.Google Scholar