Logo image
Back
Interactions between weaning age, weaning weight, sex, and enzyme supplementation on growth performance of pigs
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Interactions between weaning age, weaning weight, sex, and enzyme supplementation on growth performance of pigs

F.R. Dunshea, D.K. Kerton, P.D. Cranwell, R.G. Campbell, B.P. Mullan, R.H. King and J.R. Pluske
Australian Journal of Agricultural Research, Vol.53(8), pp.939-945
2002
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1071/AR01197
url
Link to Published Version *Subscription may be requiredView

Abstract

Digestive capacity of early-weaned pigs may be insufficient to fully digest many ingredients currently used in weaner diets. Ihe aim of this experiment was to determine whether an exogenous enzyme preparation with broad carbohydrase activity could benefit pigs that developmentally might be immature at weaning, especially with regard to gastrointestinal development. Eighty Large White x Landrace pigs were used in a 2 × 2 × 2 × 2 factorial experiment with the factors being: weaning age (14 or 24 days), weaning weight (heavy or light), sex (boar or gilt), and dietary Biofeed Plus CT (0 or 500 μg/g), which contained fungal xylanases, pentosanases, and β-glucanases. Pigs were housed individually and given a wheat-based (550 g/kg) diet containing 15.0 MJ DE and 15.9 g lysine/kg on an ad libitum basis for 21 days. The diet also contained 50 g/kg of soybean meal and 50 g/kg of lupin (Lupinus angustifolius) kernels. The liveweights of heavy (H) pigs weaned at 24 or 14 days and light pigs (L) weaned at 24 or 14 days were 7.9 and 5.3 and 5.2 and 3.9 kg, respectively. Pigs weaned at 14 days grew slower (157 v. 345 g/day) than those weaned at 24 days, although there was a suggestion of an interaction between age and weight at weaning (P = 0.081). Thus, H and L pigs weaned at 14 days grew at 148 and 166 g/day, whereas H and L pigs weaned at 24 days grew at 374 and 315 g/day, respectively. Although there was no main effect of enzymes on daily gain (248 v. 254 g/day, P = 0.80), feed intake (278 v. 284 g/day, P = 0.79), or feed conversion ratio (1.19 v. 1.25, P = 0.35), there were interactions with weaning age on daily gain (P = 0.050) and feed intake (P = 0.060). Pigs weaned at 14 days grew slower (176 v. 138 g/day) and ate less (206 v. 174 g/day), whereas pigs weaned at 24 days grew faster (321 v. 369 g/day) and ate more (351 v. 394 g/day), when supplemented with enzymes. During the third week after weaning there were interactions between dietary enzymes and sex (P = 0.060) and dietary enzymes and age (P = 0.023) on daily gain. Thus, pigs weaned at 24 days and supplemented with Biofeed Plus CT grew more quickly during the third week (559 v. 460 g/day), whereas the converse was true for pigs weaned at 14 days (286 v. 334 g/day). Also, enzyme-supplemented boars grew better over this period (457 v. 371 g/day), whereas the converse was true, for gilts (388 v. 423 g/day). In conclusion, these data clearly indicate that the greatest determinant of post-weaning performance under the present conditions was the age of the pigs at weaning. Dietary enzyme supplementation appeared most efficacious in boars weaned at an older age, although benefits did not become apparent until 2 weeks after weaning.

Details

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

This output has contributed to the advancement of the following goals:

#13 Climate Action

Source: InCites

Metrics

68 Record Views
18 Times Cited - Web of Science

InCites Highlights

These are selected metrics from InCites Benchmarking & Analytics tool, related to this output

Collaboration types
Domestic collaboration
Citation topics
3 Agriculture, Environment & Ecology
3.51 Dairy & Animal Sciences
3.51.799 Farm Animal Welfare
Web Of Science research areas
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
ESI research areas
Agricultural Sciences
Logo image