Methionine requirement of pigs between 5 and 20 kilograms body weight.
Four nursery experiments were conducted using a methionine (Met)-deficient feather meal-corn-soybean meal-dried whey basal diet (20% CP; 3,250 kcal of ME/kg, .11% choline, .19% Met, 1.00% cystine) supplemented with lysine, tryptophan, and histidine to determine the Met requirement of 5- to 10- and 10- to 20-kg pigs. Based on a true Met digestibility value of 81.6% estimated by a pig ileal digestibility assay, the Met-deficient basal diet contained .155% of digestible Met. A preliminary experiment (Exp. 1) indicated that pigs fed the Met-deficient basal diet when fortified adequately with Met could produce weight gains similar to those of pigs fed a 20% CP practical corn-soybean meal-dried whey diet. In Exp. 2 and 3, crossbred pigs weighing 5.8 kg initially were fed diets containing graded levels of digestible Met between .195 and .355%. Average daily gain increased quadratically (P less than .05) as the level of Met increased. When the data of Exp. 2 and 3 were examined together, the digestible Met requirement of 5- to 10-kg pigs was estimated to be .255% of the diet. In Exp. 4 and 5, crossbred pigs averaging 10 kg were fed digestible Met concentrations ranging from .155 to .315%. Average daily gain increased quadratically (P less than .05). The digestible Met requirement of 10- to 20-kg pigs was estimated at .255% for maximal weight gain, which was similar to that of 5- to 10-kg pigs. Assuming an 89% digestibility of Met in practical corn-soybean meal diets, the total Met level needed in practice would be .29%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Chung
T K
TK
Department of Animal Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801.
Baker
D H
DH
D000603:Amino Acids, Sulfur / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000378:metabolism; D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D004063:Digestion; D004435:Eating; D005527:Food, Fortified; D005766:Gastrointestinal Contents / Q000737:chemistry; D007082:Ileum / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism; D011897:Random Allocation; D013552:Swine / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*
D000603:Amino Acids, Sulfur; D008715:Methionine