Evaluation of diets fed from 14 to 42 days of age on piglets performance and carcass composition

The objective of this work was to evaluate diets fed from 14 to 42 days of age on piglets performance and carcass composition. Twenty-eight crossbred litters (Landrace x Large White) were full fed four types of diets: two simple and two complex. In the weaning time, at 21 days of age, four animals (two barrows and two gilts) were transferred to a nursery and allotted to metallic cages, where they continued to he full fed with diets. Eight-Pour animals, 21 animals from each treatment (seven animals at 14 days and 14 animals at 42 days of age), were slaughtered to determine the protein and fat deposition rates in the carcass. A randomized block design with seven replicates per treatment was used. From 14 to 21 days of age, the daily feed intake (DDI) was almost nil. After weaning, the highest DDI and daily weight gain (DWG) was observed in piglets fed complex and simple diets. which had higher protein and lysine level (19 and 1.25%) than those fed simple diets with 16 and 0.80% of crude protein and lysine, respectively. The simple and complex diets with the same levels of crude protein, lysine and digestible energy produced similar performance results. The reduction of the dietary crude protein level decreased the performance of piglets weaned at 21 days of age.