PSIII-17 Evaluation of Cheese co-Products in Comparison with Specialty Proteins on Growth Performance of Weaned Pigs

Abstract

Abstract Plant protein, animal protein, and milk protein are common protein sources in nursery diets. To ensure growth performance of pigs and profitability of feeding programs, specialty protein ingredients are strategically selected by nutritionists primarily based on energy value, digestible amino acid (AA) content, nutrient variability, and cost. Indeed, standardized ileal digestibility of AA and metabolizable energy are greater in cheese co-products than fishmeal or enzymatic-treated soybean meal (ESBM). Therefore, two experiments were conducted to determine if replacing specialty protein sources with a novel cheese co-product in nursery diets could improve growth variables and profitability. In experiment 1, a total of 540 pigs (PIC 800 x Camborough; 7.1 kg) were blocked by body weight and allotted to 3 treatments, 10 replicates per treatment, and 18 pigs per pen. The three dietary treatments were a control diet containing ESBM and microbial biomass (MB) or 5% of cheese co-product from manufacturer A or B added to the basal diet with replacement of ESBM and MB. In experiment 2, a total of 1,080 pigs (PIC 800 x Fast 276; 6.7 kg) were blocked by body weight and allotted to 4 treatments, 15 replicates per treatment, and 18 pigs per pen. The four treatments were a control diet with ESBM and MB, control with 5% of cheese co-product by replacing ESBM; control with 0.5% of functional protein; control with 4% of bovine plasma. All experimental diets were formulated on an equal SID Lys basis and a common diet was provided after approximately 3 weeks post-weaning. Data were analyzed using generalized linear mixed models with treatment as a fixed effect and block as a random effect. Results from experiment 1 showed that pigs fed cheese co-products regardless of the source had greater ADG (P < 0.05) by 4.4% than those fed control. Results from experiment 2 showed that pigs fed cheese co-product had greater (P < 0.05) intake in week 2 and week 3, which resulted in an overall increase in feed intake by 7.5% compared with those fed functional protein. However, there were no difference in overall gain, ADG, and feed efficiency during the entire 40-day study. Economic assessment showed that pigs fed cheese co-products had better income over feed cost than control in experiment 1 and had an equivalent income over feed cost compared with control in experiment 2. These results suggest that the novel cheese co-products can effectively substitute for ESBM and other specialty proteins in nursery diets and provide some flexibility to substitute expensive protein sources without jeopardizing growth and profitability.