A. M. Jones

Effect of Fish Meal Source on Nursery Pig Performance

A total of 600 pigs (Exp. 1, n=250, PIC 327 × 1050; Exp. 2, n=350, DNA Line 200 × 400 with an initial BW of 15.6 ± 0.1 and 14.3 ± 0.2, respectively) were used in two 14-d experiments to determine the effects of fish meal source on nursery pig performance. Each experiment had 10 pens per treatment and five pigs per pen. In Exp. 1, pigs were allotted to pens at weaning (d 0) and were fed a common starter diet for 5 d. On d 5, pens of pigs were allotted by BW to experimental diets that were corn and soybean meal-based and contained 10% dried whey. Dietary treatments included a corn and soybean meal-based diet, a diet containing 8.3% HP 300 (Hamlet Protein, Findlay, OH), or diets containing 6% fish meal from one of three sources (IPC 790 Fish Meal, The Scoular Company, Minneapolis, MN; Special Select Menhaden Fish Meal, Omega Proteins, Houston, TX; and Daybrook LT Prime Menhaden Fish Meal, Daybrook Fisheries, Morristown, NJ). The Special Select Menhaden fish meal was from the 2014 catch year, while the LT Prime and IPC 790 were from the 2015 catch year. Samples of each fish meal source were analyzed for total volatile N (New Jersey Feed Laboratories, Inc., Trenton, NJ); a measure of fish meal quality or freshness. All samples of fish meal contained less than 0.15% total volatile N indicating high quality. Results from Exp. 1 indicated that there were no differences observed in ADG or ADFI between any of the treatments. However, pigs fed IPC 790 fish meal had poorer F/G from d 7 to 14 (P < 0.049) and overall (P < 0.009) compared to pigs fed all other treatments. In Exp. 2, pigs were allotted to pens at weaning (d 0) and were fed a common starter diet for 7 d and then pens were allotted by BW to experimental diets. Fish meal sources were the same as in Exp. 1, except they were all from the 2014 catch year. Dietary treatments included the same corn and soybean mealbased diet and diets with 6% fish meal from Exp. 1. In addition, diets with 3% fish meal were included. From d 0 to 14, a fish meal source × level interaction was observed for ADG and F/G. Pigs fed increasing IPC 790 fish meal had a linear improvement in ADG and F/G; however, for pigs fed either Special Select Menhaden or LT Prime Menhaden fish meals, there was no improvement in performance beyond the 3% inclusion. Traditional measures of fish meal quality (total volatile N) did not appear to be correlated with pig performance in these studies.

Technical Note: Assessment of sampling technique from feeders for copper, zinc, calcium, and phosphorous analysis1

Diet treatments were arranged in a split-plot design with the whole-plot consisting of 1 of 6 concentrations of dietary Cu (22 to 134 mg/kg total Cu) and the subplot using 1 of 2 sampling techniques (probe vs. hand grab). A total of 6 feeders per treatment were sampled using a brass open handle probe. The probe was inserted into the feeder 4 times to obtain a 900 g of sample. The hand-collected samples were obtained by inserting a bare hand into the feeder approximately 8 times to obtain a 900 g of sample. Within a feeder and sampling technique, subsamples (200 g) were created by using a sample splitting device. In addition to the 6 individual feeder samples, a subsample (33 g) from each individual feeder was pooled within dietary treatment and sampling technique to form a single composite sample (200 g). This process was repeated until 4 individual composite samples were created for each diet and sampling technique. Next, all samples were ground through a centrifugal mill and submitted for mineral analysis in duplicate for Cu, Zn, Ca, and P analysis. Results indicated variability when sampling feeders with a probe were reduced (P = 0.013) for Cu and marginally reduced (P = 0.058) for Ca when compared with hand-sampling. However, no evidence for differences was detected among sampling techniques for Zn and P for the individual feeder analysis. When samples were pooled from 6 feeders to form a single composite sample, there was no evidence for differences detected among sampling techniques for Cu, Zn, Ca, and P analysis. From these results, sampling frequency calculations were determined to assess sampling accuracy within a 95% confidence interval. Results indicated that the number of feeders or composite samples required to analyze was less for Cu, Zn, Ca, and P analysis when using a probe compared with a hand sampling. In summary, sampling with a probe is associated with less variability on an individual sample basis, but when individual samples are pooled to form a composite sample, there was no evidence for difference among sampling techniques. Our results suggest samples collected for these analyses with a probe and composited would be the best option to minimize variation and analytical costs.

Assessment of Sampling Technique from Feeders on Copper, Zinc, Calcium, and Phosphorus Analysis

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Evaluating the Effects of Fish Solubles on Nursery Pig Performance

A total of 700 barrows (Line 200 × 400, DNA, Columbus, NE; initially 14.3 lb) were used in a 21-d growth trial with 5 pigs per pen and 28 pens per treatment. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21 d of age, placed in nursery pens according to BW and fed a common pelleted starter diet for 3 d. Pigs were then weighed and pens were blocked by BW to 1 of 5 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. Dietary treatments included a corn-soybean meal-based control diet and 4 diets containing 6% LT Prime Menhaden Fishmeal (Daybrook Fisheries Inc., New Orleans, LA). One batch of fish meal contained 0.87% fish solubles and the second batch contained 24.35% solubles. The 2 batches were then blended to provide dietary treatments with 0.87, 8.70, 16.52, and 24.35% fish solubles. A composite sample from each batch of fish meal was collected and analyzed for AA content and proximate analysis prior to formulation to determine nutrient loading values. Dietary treatments contained 10% spray-dried whey and were formulated to contain 1.35% standardized ileal digestible Lys, and were balanced on an NE basis. Overall (d 0 to 21), pigs fed diets with fish meal had increased (P < 0.05) ADG and ADFI compared to pigs fed the soybean meal-based control diet. There was no evidence for differences in growth performance with increasing fish solubles. In conclusion, the amount of fish solubles in the whole fish meal do not appear to influence nursery pig growth performance.

Evaluating the Effects of Replacing Fish Meal with HP 300 on Nursery Pig Performance

A total of 350 barrows (Line 200 × 400 DNA, Columbus, NE; initially 13.6 lb) were used in a 21-d growth trial with 5 pigs per pen and 14 pens per treatment. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21-d of age, placed in nursery pens according to BW and fed a common pelleted starter diet for 3 d, at which time, pigs were weighed and then pens were blocked by BW to 1 of 5 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. A composite sample of fish meal and HP 300 was collected and analyzed for AA content and proximate analysis prior to formulation to determine nutrient loading values. Dietary treatments were corn-soybean-meal-based with 10% spray-dried whey and formulated to contain 1.35% standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys and balanced on an NE basis. The 5 corn-soybean meal-based treatment diets were: 1) soybean meal control (no specialty protein products); 2) diet with 6% fish meal; 3) diet with 9.1% HP 300 replacing fish meal on a Lys basis; 4) diet with 6% HP 300 replacing fish meal on a lb/lb basis; and 5) diet with 15% HP 300 included at the expense of SBM and fish meal. All diets were fed in meal form. Overall (d 0 to 21), ADG and ADFI increased (P < 0.10 and P < 0.05, respectively) when pigs were fed the fish meal control diet compared to pigs fed HP 300 replacing fish meal on an SID Lys basis and 15% HP 300 diet, with pigs fed HP 300 replacing fish meal on lb/lb basis intermediate. In addition, ADG marginally decreased (P < 0.10) when pigs were fed the soybean meal control diet compared with pigs fed the fish meal diet. Furthermore, pigs fed the control diet had the poorest F/G among the dietary treatments. In addition, pigs fed the fish meal diet had improved (P < 0.05) final BW (d 21) compared to pigs fed the soybean meal control, HP 300 replacing fish meal on an SID Lys basis, and 15% HP 300 diet, with pigs fed diets with HP 300 replacing fish meal on a lb/lb basis intermediate. In conclusion, nursery pigs fed diets with fish meal had improved performance compared with the control diet, but 9% or greater HP 300 resulted in poorer feed intake and gain.

Effects of Feeding Increasing Levels of HP 300 on Nursery Pig Performance

A total of 1,215 pigs (PIC 337 × 1050; initial BW 11.3 lb) were used in a 43-d growth trial evaluating the effects of feeding increasing HP 300 (Hamlet Protein, Findlay, OH) on nursery pig performance. Pigs were weaned at 16 to 19 d of age and placed in pens, with each pen containing a mix of barrows and gilts. Pens of pigs were weighed and allotted by BW to 1 of 5 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design with 27 pigs per pen and 9 pens per treatment. The control diet was a standard cornsoybean meal-based diet with 7.5 and 5.63% fish meal (FM) included in phases 1 and 2, respectively. First, the diet with the highest inclusion of HP 300 (phase 1 – 20%; phase 2 – 15%) was formulated and 2 intermediate diets (low and medium HP 300) were then created to have an equal stepwise increase in HP 300 with the HP 300 included at the expense of soybean meal and fish meal. A fifth treatment was then formulated to have the same amount of soybean meal as the control diet, with HP 300 replacing fish meal. From d 22 to 43, a common phase 3 diet was fed to all pigs. Phase 1 diets were fed in pellet form, while phases 2 and 3 were fed in meal form. From d 0 to 7 (phase 1), increasing HP 300 at the expense of soybean meal and fish meal decreased ADFI (quadratic, P = 0.001) in pigs fed the low HP 300 diet, but then increased as HP 300 was increased. No differences were observed for ADG or F/G. Furthermore, performance did not differ between pigs fed the fish meal control diet and pigs fed the diet with HP 300 replacing fish meal. During phase 2 (d 7 to 22), ADG and ADFI decreased (linear, P < 0.05) as HP 300 increased at the expense of soybean meal and fish meal resulting in a tendency for poorer F/G (quadratic, P = 0.073). However, no differences were observed between pigs fed the fish meal control diet and pigs fed HP 300 replacing fish meal. For the entire period when the specialty protein sources were fed (d 0 to 22), pigs fed increasing HP 300 had poorer ADG, ADFI, and final BW (linear, P < 0.05) as HP 300 increased, but there were no differences observed for F/G. In addition, there were no differences observed between pigs fed the fish meal control diet and pigs fed the HP 300 diet replacing fish meal. From d 22 to 43 (phase 3) when a common diet was fed, F/G tended (quadratic, P = 0.075) to improve as HP 300 increased in the previous diets with pigs previously fed the diet with the low inclusion of HP 300 having the best F/G. Overall (d 0 to 43), pigs fed increasing HP 300 had a tendency for poorer ADFI (linear, P = 0.071) resulting in a decreased final BW (linear, P = 0.043). However, no differences were observed for growth performance between pigs fed the fish meal control diet and pigs fed HP 300 replacing fish meal. For the economic analysis, feed cost per pig and cost per pound of gain decreased (linear, P < 0.05) for pigs fed increasing HP 300. However, there were no differences detected for revenue per pig and income over feed cost. In conclusion, increasing HP 300 up to 15 to 20% of the diet for the first 22 d post-weaning at the expense of soybean meal and fish meal resulted in a decrease in final BW at the end of the nursery period.

Effect of Enzymatically Fermented Soybean Meal and Lactobacillus Plantarum on Nursery Pig Performance

A total 360 pigs (PIC C-29 × 359, initially 12.2 lb) were used in a 45-d trial to determine the effects of enzymatically fermented soybean meal (EFS) and Lactobacillus plantarum (LP1) on nursery pig performance. Pigs were allotted by BW and sex, and randomly assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments, with 9 replications per treatment. Dietary treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial with main effects of added EFS (0 vs. 8% replacing soybean meal) and LP1 (0 vs. 0.1%). Experimental diets were fed in two phases (Phase 1: d 0 to 14 and Phase 2: d 14 to 24) with a common diet fed to all pigs from d 24 to 45 post-weaning. From d 0 to 14, pigs fed diets containing EFS had decreased (P < 0.05) ADG, ADFI, and d 14 BW compared with pigs fed diets without EFS. However, there were no differences in growth performance observed for LP1. From d 14 to 24, pigs fed diets containing EFS had improved (P = 0.035) F/G; however, there were no differences in ADG or ADFI among treatments. Furthermore, no differences in growth performance were observed for LP1. From d 0 to 24, pigs fed the diet containing EFS had a tendency for decreased (P = 0.09) ADFI compared to pigs fed diets without EFS; however, no differences were observed for ADG and F/G. In addition, pigs fed diets containing LP1 had a tendency for improved (P = 0.06) F/G compared to pigs fed diets without LP1, but no differences were observed for ADG or ADFI. During the common period (d 24 to 45), there was a tendency for increased (P = 0.08) ADFI for pigs previously fed diets containing LP1 compared to pigs previously fed diets without LP1; however, there were no differences detected for ADG or F/G. Overall (d 0 to 45), a LP1 × EFS interaction was detected for F/G (P < 0.01) where LP1 and EFS individually each improved (P < 0.05) F/G, but when combined, F/G was similar to the control diet. No differences were observed for the main effects of EFS or LP1. In conclusion, pigs fed EFS had decreased ADFI which led to lower growth rates immediately post-weaning. Interestingly, the addition of LP1 and EFS in nursery diets improved F/G when fed independently from one another, but when combined, no growth benefit was reported.

Effects of Standardized Ileal Digestible Lysine on Nursery Pig Growth Performance

Lysine is the first limiting amino acid in swine diets, thus providing the appropriate level in the diet is critical to growth performance. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys requirement of nursery pigs from 15 to 35 lb. A total of 300 maternal line barrows (200 × 400, DNA, Columbus, NE; initially 14.9 ± 0.5 lb BW) were fed six experimental diets as part of a 21-d trial. Pigs were randomly allotted to pens at weaning based on BW, and were fed a common pelleted diet for 9 d after weaning. Pens were then randomly assigned to dietary treatments (10 pens/treatment with 5 pigs/pen) based on average pig weight. The six dietary treatments had increasing SID Lys (1.05, 1.15, 1.25, 1.35, 1.45, and 1.55%) and were achieved by increasing the inclusion of crystalline AA, allowing soybean meal to stay constant across dietary treatments. Experimental data were analyzed using general linear and non-linear mixed models with heterogeneous residual variances. Competing models included linear (LM), quadratic polynomial (QP), broken-line linear (BLL), and broken-line quadratic (BLQ). For ADG, F/G, and IOFC, the best-fitting model was selected using Bayesian information criterion. Overall, increasing SID Lys improved (linear, P 1.55%) SID Lys, respectively. For F/G, the best-fitting model was the LM where F/G was improved up to at least 1.55% SID Lys. For income over feed cost (IOFC), the best-fitting model was the BLL, in which the maximum mean IOFC was estimated at 1.25% (95% CI: 1.14, 1.36%). In conclusion, the estimated SID Lys required for maximum mean ADG of these maternal line barrows was lower than the estimated mean SID Lys required for maximum mean F/G. This study provides evidence that different response variables can result in different estimates of the requirements; however, at least 1.25% SID Lys was needed to maximize IOFC.