Voluntary intake responses of ‘White’ and Meishan cross growing pigs to nutrient dilution

Abstract

Selection for efficiency of lean growth has lead to a marked reduction in fat gain and voluntary food intake (VFI) of modern genotypes. There is concern that future improvements in lean growth rate may be limited by appetite. Moreover, the ability of lean genotypes to adjust their VFI in response to variations in nutrient density is not well known. Such genotypes may fail to compensate their intake in response to marginal reductions in nutrient density, which could affect growth performance. The aim was to evaluate the VFI and growth performance of ‘White’ and Meishan cross growing pigs in response to incremental reductions in dietary energy content.