Abstract
Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of wheat and crystalline amino acids on growth performance of nursery and finishing pigs. In Exp. 1, a total of 192 pigs (PIC, 337 × 1050, initially 26.7 lb BW) were used in a 21-d nursery study. Pigs were allotted to pens by initial BW, and pens were assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with 6 pigs per pen and 8 replications per treatment. Treatments included: (1) corn-soybean meal diet, (2) diet 1 with wheat replacing approximately 50% of the corn, (3) wheat replacing 100% of the corn in diet 1 with high amounts of crystalline amino acids, and (4) diet 3 with 5% more SBM and lower crystalline amino acids. Overall, (d 0 to 20), no growth performance differences were found when replacing 50% of corn with wheat (P > 0.75), but tendencies for reduced ADG (linear, P < 0.08) were observed when replacing 100% corn with wheat. Replacing 100% of corn with wheat improved (linear, P < 0.05) caloric efficiency on an ME basis and tended to improve (linear, P < 0.07) caloric efficiency on an NE basis. Adding more soybean meal to all wheat diets tended to improve (P < 0.07) F/G and improved (P < 0.03) caloric efficiency on an NE basis.
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