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Two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of feeding excess dietary CP to nursery pigs. In Exp. 1, a total of 105 nursery pigs (initially 10.4 kg and 35 d of age) were used in a 21-d growth assay to determine the effects of feeding excess CP from soybean meal to nursery pigs. The pigs were fed a pelleted commercial starter diet for the first 14 d after weaning, and the experimental treatments were fed for the next 21 d. Treatments consisted of 3 corn-soybean meal-based diets formulated to different CP levels: (1) 22.5%, (2) 25%, and (3) 27.5% CP. Increasing CP from 22.5 to 27.5% had no effect (P > 0.19) on ADG, ADFI, or F/G.
In Exp. 2, a total of 105 nursery pigs (initially 10.0 kg and 35 d of age) were used in a 21-d growth assay to determine the effects of excess CP from dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) on nursery pig growth. The pigs were fed a pelleted commercial starter diet for the first 14 d after weaning and the experimental treatments for the next 21 d. Treatments were corn-soybean meal-based diets formulated to 22.9 and 25% CP and a diet with 30% DDGS formulated to 25% CP. Increasing the CP concentration had no effect (P > 0.12) on ADG, ADFI, or F/G. However, pigs fed the DDGS had poorer (P < 0.04) F/G compared to pigs fed the corn-soybean meal-based diet formulated to 25% CP.
Our data suggest that nursery pigs can tolerate CP levels up to 27.5% without negative effects on growth performance. Additionally, the inclusion of 30% DDGS in nursery pig diets did not have a significant impact on ADG or ADFI, but did negatively affect F/G.
SM Williams, CB Paulk, JD Hancock, S Issa, and TL Gugle, 2010. Swine day, Kansas State University, Report progress 1038: 54-57.
