PSVI-7 Increased consumption of Methionine as DL-Methionine or OH-Methionine improved pigs growing performance and carcass traits under hot conditions

Abstract

Abstract This study aimed to determine the effects of increasing Methionine (Met) supply on growth performance and carcass traits of growing-finishing pigs under summer conditions in Brazil. A total of 200 barrows and females, 63 d-old (20.43±2.0 kg), were allocated in a 2 x 2 factorial design (two Met sources [DL-Met and OH-Met] and two Met doses [100 and 120% Brazilian Nutritional recommendation) with 10 replicates of 5 animals each. Corn-DDGS-wheat-soya based diets were formulated. Treatments were offered during four phases: growing I (63-93 d old), growing II (94-114 d old), finishing I (115-142 d old) and finishing II (143-160 d old). The recommended digestible Met levels were: 0.32, 0.30, 0.29 and 0.24% respectively for the four phases. Average temperature was 27.12 ± 4.51ºC and relative humidity was 61.72 ± 5.65%. Growth performance was measured for each rearing phase. Carcass yield, back fat height, loin depth, and lean meat yield were measured at the end of the experiment. Data were submitted to a 2-way ANOVA and Tukey test. There was no significant interaction between the Met source and the dose for all performance and carcass traits. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio were similar between treatments (P >0.05). The individual daily weight gain and live weight were better for the highest doses of methionine (P< 0.05) in all phases and on the whole period, except for the finishing II where the weight gain was similar for all treatments. Likewise, carcass yield, lean meat was increased with the highest dose of methionine in comparison to the adequate dose. No significant difference was found between DL-Met and OH-Met on growth performance parameters. OH-Met resulted in a higher loin depth (58.37 mm) in comparison to DL-Met (55.21 mm). Overall, these results demonstrated the interest of increasing Met supply under hot conditions to improving performance and carcass quality traits.