The Effect of Age and Supplemental Amino Acids on the Utilization of Milk and Soya Protein by the Young Pig

Abstract

Pigs fed skim milk rations gained at a faster rate on less feed per pound of gain than did pigs fed soybean oil meal diets. Supplemental arginine had no significant effect on either gains or feed conversion, even though levels in the diets were three to 4 times the reported requirements. Supplemental DL-methionine significantly improved gains and efficiency of feed conversion in the pigs fed diets containing soybean oil meal. The apparent digestibility of the dry matter and protein of the milk rations was high at two weeks of age and changed very little as the pigs increased in age to 5 weeks. The digestibility of the dry matter and protein of the soya diets increased as the pigs increased from two to 5 weeks of age. Adjusting the gains to equal digestibilities with the use of covariance analysis resulted in similar gains for the pigs fed methionine supplemented soybean oil meal diets and skim milk diets.