Effects of abrupt changes between mash and pellet diets on growth performance in finishing pigs (2011)

C B Paulk,J C Ebert,J J Ohlde,Joe D Hancock

doi:10.4148/2378-5977.7117

Abstract

A total of 200 finishing pigs (average initial BW of 132.3 lb) were used in a 58-d growth assay to determine the effects of an abrupt change from mash to pellets and pellets to mash on growth performance and carcass measurements. The experiment was designed as a randomized complete block with 5 pigs per pen and 10 pens per treatment. There were 4 treatments with 2 phases of diets utilized. Treatments were mash to mash, mash to pellets, pellets to mash, and pellets to pellets for Phases 1 and 2 of the experiment. For Phase 1 (d 0 to 36), pigs fed the pelleted diet had 4% greater (P 0.15) were observed in dressing percentage, fat thickness, loin depth, or percentage fat-free lean index (FFLI). Pigs fed pellets tended to have the greatest growth performance, pigs fed mash the worst, with pigs fed pellets for only part of the grow-finish phase rating intermediate.

Highlights

Corn is a major cereal grain fed to swine in the United States
A total of 200 finishing pigs were used in a 58-d growth assay to determine the effects of an abrupt change from mash to pellets and pellets to mash on growth performance and carcass measurements
For Phase 1 (d 0 to 36), pigs fed the pelleted diet had 4% greater (P < 0.06) ADG and F/G was improved (P < 0.03) by 8% compared to pigs fed mash

Summary

Introduction

The recent price of corn has reached record highs and pushed swine producers to try to maximize efficiency of gain. Adding the necessary infrastructure to allow for pelleting entails a high initial cost along with decreasing production rates and increasing energy usage, which leads to higher feed cost for the producer; this extra cost for pelleting may provide more economic return. Inability to achieve adequate production rates could be a problem for some feed manufactures and swine producers who are looking for ways to cut costs while still achieving optimum efficiencies of gain. Feeding pelleted diets can lead to an increase in stomach ulcers, leading producers to switch to mash diets to reduce ulcers; little data have been produced on the effects of switching from mash to pelleted diets and vice versa and if feeding pellets throughout the entire grower and finisher stage is necessary to achieve benefits from pelleting. Our objective was to determine the effects of abrupt changes between mash and pellet diets on growth performance in finishing pigs

Objectives

Results

Conclusion