Effects of various sources of carbohydrates in the diet of early-weaned pigs.

Abstract

Experiments were conducted using 3-week-old pigs to study the effects of different sources of dietary carbohydrates when fed singly or in various combinations. Significantly slower average weight gains were obtained with pigs self-fed purified diets containing either corn starch or dextrin as the only source of carbohydrate, when compared with diets containing glucose or sucrose. The depressed weight gains obtained with corn starch in these experiments appeared to be the result of decreased feed intake, since no difference in gains occurred when pigs were pair-fed the diets containing either corn starch or glucose as the source of dietary carbohydrate. No significant differences in rate of gain were found among pigs fed combinations containing corn starch and one or more of the other carbohydrate sources tested. A digestion trial showed a significant depression in apparent digestibility of the protein and organic matter fractions, when dextrin was fed as the only source of dietary carbohydrate compared with diets containing either glucose, corn starch or a combination of corn starch and sucrose.