Effect of standardized ileal digestible arginine:lysine on growth performance of 6- to 13-kg nursery pigs

• Published in: Journal of animal science 2024-01, Vol.102
• Main Authors: Humphrey, Dalton C, Hagen, Chloe S, Wileman, Caitlyn M, Putnam, Margaret C, Haydon, Keith D, Greiner, Laura L
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal Feed - analysis; Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Animals; Arginine - administration & dosage; Arginine - pharmacology; Diet - veterinary; Dietary Supplements - analysis; Digestion - drug effects; Female; Ileum - drug effects; Ileum - physiology; Lysine - administration & dosage; Lysine - pharmacology; Male; Non Ruminant Nutrition; Random Allocation; Swine - growth & development; Swine - physiology; Weight Gain - drug effects
• ISSN: 0021-8812; 1525-3163; 1525-3163
• DOI: 10.1093/jas/skae226

A total of 480 newly weaned pigs (PIC 337 × 1050; Genus, Hendersonville, TN) with an initial body weight (BW) of 6.20 ± 0.61 kg were used in a dose-response study to investigate the impact of increasing standardized ileal digestible (SID) Arg:Lys on nursery pig growth performance. At weaning, pigs were placed into 48 pens with 5 barrows and 5 gilts per pen. Pens were randomly assigned to 1 of 6 dietary treatments. The experimental diets were formulated with increasing SID Arg:Lys, achieved by substituting corn starch, glycine, and l-alanine with l-arginine, resulting in SID Arg:Lys ranging from 45% to 145%. Diets were sublimiting in SID Lys and exceeded all other essential amino acid requirements. The experimental diets were fed across two feeding phases from days 0 to 10 and 10 to 27, with adjustments made to account for the Lys requirement of the pigs. All pens were placed on a common diet for the remaining 14 d of the study to evaluate carryover effects. Pigs and feeders were weighed at the start and end of each phase to calculate average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed efficiency (G:F). Data were analyzed according to a linear regression model, which included the linear and quadratic effects of SID Arg:Lys and initial BW. Pen was the experimental unit, and results were considered significant at P ≤ 0.05 and a tendency at 0.50