A total of 252 crossbred pigs were used in two experiments to determine the effect of feeding hydrolyzed feather meal (FM) during the growing-finishing period on animal performance, carcass composition, and pork quality. All pigs were blocked by weight, and dietary treatments were assigned randomly to pens within blocks. In Exp. 1, 24 pens were randomly assigned to one of three dietary treatmen...

An experiment on Lohmann male broilers was conducted to evaluate the effect of different energy and protein levels on broiler performance and plasma concentrations of growth hormone (GH), thyroxine (T4), and triiodothyronine (T3). 600 day-old broilers were fed on either 2800(low-energy) or 3200(high-energy) Kcal ME/Kg diets with different protein levels during three periods of starter, grower a...

A study was conducted to evaluate the use of constant or increasing levels of Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) in diets for broilers. Diets were formulated for starter (0-14 d), grower (14 to 35 d) and finisher (35 to 42 d) periods to contain 0, 15, or 30% DDGS. Diets were formulated on digestible amino acid basis to meet current U.S. poultry industry nutrient levels and were mainta...

An experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that field peas may replace soybean meal in diets fed to growing and finishing pigs without negatively influencing pig performance, carcass quality, or pork palatability. Forty-eight pigs (initial average BW 22.7 +/- 1.21 kg) were allotted to 1 of 3 treatments with 2 pigs per pen. There were 8 replications per treatment, 4 with barrows and 4 wi...

A growth performance and carcass evaluation study was conducted to determine the maximal inclusion rate of corn distillers dried grain with solubles (DDGS) in grower-finisher pig diets when formulated on a total AA basis. A total of 240 (28.4 +/- 0.8 kg of BW) crossbred pigs [(Yorkshire x Landrace) x Duroc] were allotted randomly within sex and weight outcome groups to 1 of 24 pens. Pens were a...

The effect of a Buttiauxella phytase, in a dose range of 0-1000 FTU/kg in feed, on production performance in growing/finishing pigs fed European type wheat, corn, barley and SBM based diet was determined. Five dietary treatments were tested including a positive control (PC), a negative control (NC) without inorganic P and with reduced Ca (–0.12%) and metabolisable energy content (–0.14 MJ ME/kg...

The effects of feeding various dietary Ca:P level sequences on gain and feed efficiency, leg structural soundness and bone indices of growing-finishing swine were evaluated as an incomplete 3 X 3 factorial arrangement of treatments in a split-plot design. A total of 664 pigs were fed one of three total dietary Ca:P levels (.52:.40, .65:.50, .80:.60%) from 19-kg to 56-kg body weights followed by...

Over a 6-month period, the mean mortality risk (based on 393 operations participating in the United States National Animal Health Monitoring System 1995 National Swine Study, and representing operations with > or = 300 market hogs in 16 states), was 2.3 +/- 0.2% in the grower/finisher production phase (where figures after the +/- represent the standard error of the estimate). Mortality > or = 4...