Better Pork February 2017

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Better Pork February 2017 33
NUTRITION
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distillers’ grains with solubles were
used for all treatments and fed in five
phases (day 0 to 28, 28 to 56, 56 to
84, 84 to 98, and 98 to 118). The six
treatments included:
1. meal diet fed from day 0 to 118,
2. pelleted diet fed from day 0 to
118,
3. meal diet fed from day 0 to 70,
followed by pellets from day 70
to 118,
4. pelleted diet fed from day 0 to
70, followed by a meal diet
from day 70 to 118,
5. pellets and meal rotated every
two weeks starting with meal,
6. pellets and meal rotated every
two weeks starting with pellets.
Just prior to the end of the study,
on day 110, two barrows and two
gilts from each pen were harvested
and their stomachs were collected.
From these samples a combined
ulcer and keratinization score was
determined for each pig.
Overall, there were no differences
in average daily gain across feed-
ing regimens. (See the table on page
35.) The vast majority of research
comparing meal and pelleted diets
in finishing pigs has shown at least
numerical improvements in weight
gain when pigs are fed pelleted
diets. The lack of a difference in this
particular study may be due to the
impact that pelleting had on stom-
ach morphology as indicated by the
ulcer index scores.
Pigs fed meal diets throughout
the study had significantly greater
average daily feed intake compared
to pigs fed pelleted diets through-
out, with all other treatments falling
somewhere in between. The lower
feed intake of pigs fed the pelleted
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Pigs fed meal diets throughout the study had significantly greater average daily feed
intake compared to pigs fed pelleted diets throughout.