Growth and development of pigs: a reanalysis of the effects of nutrition on body composition

Abstract

SUMMARY: Selected data of McMeekan (1940, 1941) were reanalysed to compare the proportions and distribution of tissues, and the weights of some organs, in pigs growing at different growth rates due to differing levels of nutrition. The effects of variation in fat content were excluded, and the distribution of tissues was compared at the same total weight for each tissue, by allometric regressions. Except for components of the head and neck, and the stomach, the results do not support a concept of retardation of development by poor nutrition of those parts of the body with the highest relative growth rates.