Abstract
Young mammals including pigs have a high dietary requirement for arginine, predominantly due to its role as a nitrogen carrier in tissue proteins, and role in gastrointestinal growth and development. There has been limited research conducted on the requirements for arginine in the post-weaning period. Hernandez et al., (2008) showed that the addition of 6g/kg arginine to the diets of newly weaned pigs for 10 d post-weaning, improved daily feed intake and daily gain in the dietary transition period between d 11 and 14 post-weaning. It is hypothesised that supplemental arginine will improve growth performance of newly weaned pigs. The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of arginine supplemented at different rates ranging from 0 to 9 g/kg for 12 d post-weaning, on the growth performance and survivability of newly weaned pigs.