This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of digestible lysine in diets on the performance of piglets from 6 to 15 kg. One hundred and twenty piglets (80 castrated males and 40 females) were used. The piglets were allotted to a completely randomized block design, with five treatments (1.06, 1.16, 1.26, 1.36, and 1.46% of digestible lysine), eight replicates and three animals per experimental unit, kept in thermoneutral environment. The dietary level of digestible lysine did […]

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate dietary levels of crude protein (CP) and digestible lysine (LYSD) on the performance and nitrogen (N) excretion of piglets in the initial phase. In experiment 1, 80 barrows and females (initial weight of the 9.1 kg ± 1.2 kg and final weight of the 21.5 ± 4.8 kg), crossbred (Landrace x Large White), were distributed to a randomized blocks in factorial scheme 2 x 4 (two levels of CP 16 and 18% – and […]

This experiment was carried out to evaluate the influence of the reduction of dietary CP levels and amino acid supplementation on performance of barrows maintained in a high environmental temperature. A total of sixty crossbreed (Landrace x Large White) piglets (average body weight = 29.8 kg) was allotted in a completely randomized experimental design with five treatments (17, 16, 15, 14 and 13% CP), six replications and two animals per experimental unit. Diets and water were suplied ad libitum until […]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate herbal extracts as alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters for weanling pigs based on growth performance and organ weights. A 35-d randomized complete block design experiment was carried out to compare five treatments: control (C) – basal diet; antimicrobial (A) – basal diet supplemented with colistin + tiamulin (75 ppm of each); herbal extract – basal diet supplemented with 420 ppm of extracts of clove (Ec); oregano (Eo) and clove + oregano (Ec […]

Two experiments with a total of 120 weanling pigs (21 to 56 d of age) were conducted to evaluate the effects of antimicrobials and herbal extracts on intestinal microbiota (experiment 1) and on fecal score (experiments 1, 2 and 3). Pigs were allotted in pairs (pens with a barrow and a female) to a randomized complete block design 12 replications of five treatments. Treatments consisted of: control – basal diet; antimicrobial – basal diet plus Zn bacitracin, olaquindox, and colistin […]

The purpose of this trial was to evaluate the effects of antimicrobial and herbal extracts on digestibility, performance, morphology and histology of weanling pigs. One hundred and twenty weaned pigs were used to compare five treatments: control – basal diet; antimicrobial – basal diet plus Zn bacitracina, olaquindox, and colistin (50 ppm of each); herbal extract A, B and C – basal diet plus 700 ppm, 1,400 ppm and 2,100 ppm of herbal extract, respectively, with 12 replications (pens of […]

Data from 326 animals of a F2 swine population were used to select traits related to meat quality by principal components analysis. The following traits were considered: pH at 45 minutes post mortem (pH45), pH at 24 hours post mortem (pHu), drip loss (DL), cooking loss (CL), total loss (TL), intramuscular fat (IMF), objective tenderness (OT), lightness (L), redness (a) and yellowness (b). Variation lower than 0.7 (eigenvalue lower than 0.7) indicated four traits, which were significantly correlated to the […]

Two trials were carried out to evaluate the feeding of high moisture sorghum silage (HMSS) of high or low tannin contents for piglets. In the digestibility trial, twelve crossbred, castrated males, averaging initial body weight of 15.9±1.9 kg were allotted to metabolism cages, as a completely randomized design, with four experimental units and one piglet per cage. The total feces and urine collection method was used. The values of digestible DM, digestible protein, digestible starch, digestible OM, digestible energy and […]

A trial was carried out to evaluate the effects of increasing levels (0, 8 and 12%) of cottonseed meal 36% (CM36) and three inclusion levels (0, 20, and 40 g/100 kg) of ferrous sulfate – FeSO4 (12% of CM diets) on the performance, plasma urea nitrogen (PUN) and hematological values of starting pigs (15-30 kg). Eighty pigs, barrows and females, averaging initial body weight of 14.81 ± 1.72 kg were allotted to a complete randomized block design with five treatments […]

The effects of reducing dietary CP and soybean meal levels on performance, N excretion, organs weight and diarrhea incident were evaluated in pigs supplemented with amino acids. The diets contained four levels of CP (21.0, 19.5, 18.0, and 16.5%) and were supplemented with synthetic amino acid (lysine, metionine and treonine). In experiment I, eight crossbred (LD x LW) castrated males (initial weight = 22 kg) were individually allotted to a randomized block design, with split plot arrangement to determine N […]