Abstract
Simple SummaryTo optimize animal performance, pig diets need the right amount of all essential amino acids. Usually, the ideal amino acid profile is used: If the dietary concentration of one particular amino acid is too low, other amino acids will not be used efficiently. In this experiment it was shown that amino acids that stimulate the feed intake may improve the performance of pigs, even if other amino acids are not at the optimal level.Four experimental diets for newly weaned pigs were formulated: (1) low valine and low tryptophan; (2) low valine and high tryptophan; (3) high valine and low tryptophan and (4) high valine and high tryptophan. Dietary standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine content was 1.06 g/kg. The SID valine to SID lysine ratio was 0.58 and 0.67 for the low and high valine diets, respectively, and SID tryptophan to SID lysine ratios were 0.19 and 0.22 for the low and high tryptophan diets, respectively. In total, 64 pens of 6 pigs (3 barrows and 3 gilts) were divided over the four experimental treatments. No interaction between dietary supply of valine and tryptophan was observed (P > 0.1 for all parameters). Increasing the dietary valine content increased the daily feed intake, daily gain and gain:feed (P < 0.001 for all three parameters). Increasing the dietary tryptophan content improved gain:feed during the first 2 weeks (P < 0.05) and overall (P < 0.05). Valine supply had a greater effect on performance results than tryptophan supply. It may thus be beneficial to provide a diet with an optimal dietary concentration of valine even if other amino acids are at suboptimal dietary levels.
Highlights
The nutrient content of a diet may affect the voluntary feed intake of piglets
Valine supply had a greater effect on performance results than tryptophan supply
It may be beneficial to provide a diet with an optimal dietary concentration of valine even if other amino acids are at suboptimal dietary levels
Summary
The nutrient content of a diet may affect the voluntary feed intake of piglets. Feed intake depends largely on energy density [1,2], so that the daily energy intake remains relatively constant across diets with different energy densities, as long as the density is not too low. Still, increased energy intake will only lead to protein deposition if the composing amino acids are not limiting. The dietary intake of essential and non-essential amino acids needs to meet the requirements. The ideal protein concept is commonly used in feed formulation for pig diets This concept is defined as the perfect ratio among individual essential amino acids and N required for optimal performance [6]. Amino acid requirements are determined by both the need for maintenance and for protein accretion [6]. With a sufficient supply of energy and nitrogen, increasing the dietary concentration of a deficient amino acid will only improve performance if the dietary concentration of no other amino acid is limiting growth. The hypothesis was tested that adding either valine or tryptophan to a diet short in both valine and tryptophan will lead to an increased feed intake and improved performance
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