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Diet Selection of Weaned Piglets - Is a Training Period Necessary?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 November 2017

J.A. Dalby
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT
J.M. Forbes
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT
M.A. Varley
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Physiology and Nutrition, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT
S. Jagger
Affiliation:
Dalgety Agriculture Ltd., 180 Aztec West, Bristol, BS12 4TH
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Extract

The requirements of a weaned piglet are expected to change systematically over the period 6kg-25kg. Commonly during this time animals will be offered two diets. However, initially on each diet the animal may be restricted because it's protein requirements are in excess of that supplied by the diet. Then latterly, amino acids may be oversupplied requiring deamination of the excess by the pig. This is a costly process, in terms of the energy required by the pig and commercially, in terms of food protein costs. This system also does not take into account differing individual requirements within a group of pigs due to genotype, sex, maturity and stage of growth. As a result potential benefits are to be obtained if weaned piglets can be shown to choose an adequate diet, meeting their individual requirements, when given a choice of feeds.

Type
PIG Feeding and Nutrition
Copyright
Copyright © The British Society of Animal Production 1994

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References

Kyriazakis, I. (1989) Growth, feed intake and diet selection in pigs: theory and experiments. ph.D.Thesis,University of Edinburgh.Google Scholar