Effects of lysine and methionine supplementation in diets with and without fish meal on growth and carcass characteristics of pigs

H.K. Ong and S. Shanmugavelu

Abstract

The effects of synthetic lysine and methionine supplementation in diets with and without fish meal on performance of growing-finishing pigs were studied. Fifty-six growing pigs were allotted to four dietary treatments i.e. diet A (control) with fish meal and soybean meal but without amino acid supplementation diet B with fish meal plus lysine and methionine; diet C without fish meal but supplemented with lysine and methionine ; and diet D with neither fish meal nor synthetic amino acids. Pigs fed diet A exhibited significantly(p <0.01) better growth rate and feed conversion efficiency compared with those fed diet B, C or D. The average daily gains (ADG) of pigs fed diet A B, C and D were 628,582, 597 and 569 g respectively. There were no significant differences in ADG of pigs fed diet B, C or D. Feed/gain ratios were 3.24,3.55,3.52 and 3.61 for pigs under treatrnent A, B, C and D respectively, with that of diet A being significantly different (.p< 0.01)from the rest. Pigs fed the various dies did nots how any significant differences (p <0.05) in carcass characteristics in terms of dressing percentage, carcass length, backfat depth and lean percentage. There was no evidence to show that lysine and methionine from animal protein source is essential for growth and lean deposition. Growth rate was found to increase with increase in the tutor of lysine: digestible energy (DE) consumption. The best growth rate was found in pigs ingesting lysine and DE in the ratio of 0.81.

Full Text (348 KB)