Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T23:12:56.474Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A comparison of phase feeding and choice feeding as methods of meeting the amino acid requirements of growing pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2010

M. M. V. Bradford  and
R. M. Gous
M. M. V. Bradford
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science and Poultry Science, University of Natal, PO Box 375, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
R. M. Gous
Affiliation:
Department of Animal Science and Poultry Science, University of Natal, PO Box 375, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa
Get access

Abstract

Two experiments are reported in which a comparison was made of phase feeding and choice feeding as methods of meeting the changing amino acid requirements of growing pigs. In the first experiment, three feeding strategies were used: a system in which a single food (165 g protein per kg food) was offered throughout the growth period; a phase-feeding system, using five different treatments; and three choice-feeding treatments, in which the two diets offered differed only in their protein concentrations. The second experiment consisted of six treatments, three of which constituted a single feeding system, being a high, a medium, (the control) and a low protein food (240, 165 and 100 g protein per kg); there were two phase-feeding treatments, of three and five phases; and one treatment in which a choice was offered of the high and the low protein foods. In both experiments, group data were collected on Landrace × Large White pigs, sexes separate, during the growing period (30 to 90 kg). All pigs were weighed weekly, as was the amount of food consumed in each pen of 10 animals. Phase feeding improved food conversion efficiency (+4·4 g/kg) and caused a decline in both food intake (−45·3 g) and P2 backfat thickness (−0·4 mm) with each increment in the number of phases used. Results of the choice feeding treatments were not statistically significantly different from either the control or the phase feeding treatments. The intake of dietary protein was higher in the choice treatments than in the control (420 v. 370 g in experiment 1 and 345 v. 334 g in experiment 2). Where the two foods on offer differed only in protein content, pigs reduced the proportion of high protein food in the combination chosen by 0037 and 0·059 per week in the two experiments respectively, these linear trends being statistically highly significant. They were less successful in differentiating between the high protein food and maize, the proportion of high protein food chosen decreasing at a statistically significant rate of 0018 per week, but where the maize had not been supplemented with vitamins and minerals there was no significant trend in the way in which the pigs selected their diet, demonstrating the importance of the correct design of the two foods on offer in a choice-feeding programme.

Keywords

amino acidsfood preferencespigs
Type
Research Article
Information
Animal Production , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , April 1991 , pp. 323 - 330
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

Association Europeene Pour La Cooperation. 1988. Recommendations for Animal Nutrition. 5th ed.Rhone-Poulenc, France.Google Scholar
Bradford, M. M. V. and Gous, R. M. 1991. The response of growing pigs to a choice of diets differing in protein content. Animal Production 52: 185–192.Google Scholar
Campbell, R. G. and Biden, R. S. 1978. The effect of protein nutrition between 5-5 and 20 kg live weight on the subsequent performance and carcass quality of pigs. Animal Production 27: 223–228.Google Scholar
Clark, F. A., Gous, R. M. and Morris, T. R. 1982. Response of broiler chickens to well-balanced protein mixtures. British Poultry Science 23: 433–446.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cole, D. J. A. 1985. Amino acid nutrition of the pig. In Recent Developments in Pig Nutrition (ed. Cole, D. J. A. and Haresign, W.), pp. 71–84. Butterworths, London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmans, G. C. 1978. Free-choice feeding of laying poultry. In Recent Advances in Animal Nutrition (ed. Haresign, W. and Lewis, D.), pp. 31–39. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Emmans, G. C. and Fisher, C. 1986. Problems in nutritional theory. In Nutrient Requirements of Poultry and Nutritional Research (eds. Boorman, K. N. and Fisher, C.). Poultry Science Symposium No. 19, pp. 9–39. Butterworths, London.Google Scholar
Ferguson, N. S. 1989. An approach to modelling feed intake, body composition and nutrient requirements in growing pigs. M.Sc. Agric. Thesis, Unversity of Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Google Scholar
Kyriazakis, I., Emmans, G. C. and Whittemore, C. T. 1988. The effect of prior experience of foods on the diets selected by growing pigs. Animal Production 46: 523 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Lister, D. and McCance, R. A. 1967. Severe undernutrition in growing and adult animals. 17. The ultimate results of rehabilitation: pigs. British Journal of Nutrition 21: 787–799.Google Scholar
National Research Council. 1979. Nutrient Requirements of Domestic Animals. No. 2. Nutrient Requirements of Swine. 8th revised ed. National Academy of Science, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Sarkar, N. K., Lodge, G. A., Williams, C. J. and Elliot, J. I. 1983. The effects of undernutrition of suckled pigs on subsequent growth and body composition after nutritional rehabilitation. Journal of Animal Science 57: 34–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Standing Committee on Agriculture. 1987. Feeding Standards for Australian Livestock: Pigs. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australia.Google Scholar
Tullis, J. B. and Whittemore, C. T. 1986. Body composition and feed intake of young pigs postweaning. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture 37: 1178–1184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whittemore, C. T. 1987. Elements of Pig Science. Longman Scientific and Technical, Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Whittemore, C. T., Tullis, J. B. and Hastie, S. W. 1978. Efficiency of use of nitrogen from dried microbial cells after a period of N deprivation in growing pigs. British Journal of Nutrition 39: 193–200.CrossRefGoogle Scholar