The Effects of Increasing Dietary Standardized Ileal Digestible Lysine Levels on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of 24-to 130-kg Grow-Finish Pigs Sired by PIC 800 Boars

Abstract Our objective was to determine the effects of increasing overall standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine (Lys) levels on growth performance and carcass characteristics of grow-finish pigs sired by PIC 800 boars. A total of 1,715 barrows and gilts (PIC800×Camborough, initially 23.7±0.58 kg) were used in a 117-d growth trial with 70 mixed sex pens in two rooms (35 pens per room), 14 pens per treatment, and 23 to 25 pigs per pen. At the beginning of the trial, pens within each room were blocked by body weight and randomly allotted to one of five treatments (overall dietary SID Lys level as 80, 88, 94, 100, or 110% of PIC SID Lys recommendations) in a randomized complete block design. Diets were corn-soybean meal (SBM)-based, and treatments were achieved through the inclusion of SBM with adjustments of corn and choice white grease inclusion rates. Diets were fed in 6 phases (24-47, 47-63, 63-75, 75-95, 95-113, and 113-130 kg) and formulated to be iso-caloric across treatment for each phase. Within each phase, only the diets of the lowest and highest SID Lys levels were manufactured, and the diets of intermediate SID Lys levels were blended by the automatic feeding system in the research facility. Growth performance data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure in SAS (Version 9.4, SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, NC) and considered pen as the experimental unit. The statistical model considered fixed effects of SID Lys levels and random effects of the block. Mortality and removals were also analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure and specified a binomial distribution. All data are reported as least square means and considered statistically significant at P < 0.05 and marginally significant at P < 0.10. Increasing overall dietary SID Lys levels marginally reduced average daily feed intake (linear, P = 0.108) and increased gain-to-feed ratio (linear, P < 0.001), but there was no evidence for difference among treatments for average daily gain (P >0.10) or removal and mortality rate (Table 1; P > 0.10). There was no evidence for increasing overall dietary SID Lys levels affect hot carcass weight, carcass yield, backfat depth, loin depth, or lean yield. In conclusion, increasing overall dietary SID Lys level over PIC recommendations through increasing SBM levels resulted in improved feed efficiency of 24 to 130 kg pigs sired with PIC 800 boars, but there was no evidence for difference in the carcass characteristics.