title: Effects of feeding cracked corn to nursery and finishing pigs.
abstract: Four experiments were conducted to determine the effects of supplementing cracked corn in nursery and finishing pig diets (PIC TR4 × 1050). In Exp. 1, 144 pigs (7.5 kg BW) were used in a 28-d experiment with 6 pigs per pen and 6 pens per treatment. Treatments were corn-soybean meal based in the form of mash, pellets (PCD), and pellets with 100% of the corn ground (PGr; 618 mm) or cracked (PCr; 3444 mm) and blended into the diet after the rest of the formulation had been pelleted. For d 0 to 28, pigs fed mash had increased (P = 0.042) ADFI compared with those fed the PCD diet. Pigs fed PCD had increased (P < 0.05) ADG and G:F compared with pigs fed PGr and PCr. Pigs fed PCr had decreased (P = 0.004) G:F compared with those fed PGr. For Exp. 2, 224 nursery pigs (7.4 kg BW) were used in a 28-d study with 7 pigs per pen and 8 pens per treatment. Treatments were similar to Exp. 1, with 50% of the corn either ground (445 mm) or cracked (2142 mm). For d 0 to 28, pigs fed mash had greater (P < 0.05) ADFI and G:F than pigs fed the PCD diet. Pigs fed the PCD diet had decreased (P = 0.001) ADFI and increased (P = 0.001) G:F compared to those fed PGr and PCr. For Exp. 3, 208 pigs (62.6 kg BW) were used in a 63-d experiment with 13 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. Treatments were corn-soybean meal based with 0, 10, 20, and 40% cracked corn (3549 µm). All treatments were fed in mash form. For d 0 to 63, increasing cracked corn tended to decrease (linear, P = 0.093) G:F and decreased (linear, P = 0.047) carcass yield. Adding up to 40% of cracked corn to a mash diet decreased (P < 0.05) scores for keratinization and ulcers. For Exp. 4, 252 finishing pigs (40 kg BW) were used with 7 pigs per pen and 9 pens per treatment. The treatments were the same as described in Exp. 2. For the 80-d experiment, pigs fed mash had decreased (P < 0.05) ADG, stomach keratinization, and ulcer scores and increased (P < 0.05) yield and loin depth compared with pigs fed the PCD diet. Pigs fed PCD had increased (P < 0.05) ADG and G:F and decreased (P = 0.026) loin depth compared with pigs fed PGr and PCr diets. Pigs fed PCr had increased (P = 0.023) ADG and decreased (P = 0.001) yield compared with pigs fed PGr. Pigs fed PCr had decreased (P < 0.05) stomach keratinization and ulcer scores compared with pigs fed the PCD and PGr diets. In conclusion, pigs fed PCD had the greatest G:F, and PGr and PCr treatments had negative effects on G:F of pigs. Scores for stomach lesions were lowest for pigs fed PCr.
authors.forename: C B
authors.initials: CB
authors.lastname: Paulk
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Hancock
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Fahrenholz
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: McKinney
authors.forename: K C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Benhke
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Nietfeld
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000824:Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D004032:Diet / Q000662:veterinary*; D005260:Female; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods; D006799:Housing, Animal; D008297:Male; D011897:Random Allocation; D013025:Glycine max; D013270:Stomach / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D013552:Swine / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015430:Weight Gain / Q000502:physiology; D003313:Zea mays