Variation in nutrient digestibility and energy intake are key contributors to differences in postweaning growth...

Pig weight variation represents an important source of lost production and profitability in the swine industry. To date, few experiments have classified how pigs of the same age but different weight utilize dietary energy and nutrients. The objective of this experiment was to characterize how pigs with varying weaning weights (WW) and postweaning growth performance differ in apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy or nutrient digestibility or energy utilization. Ninety-six barrows weaned at 18 to 22 d of age were selected from 960 to represent the 10% of the lightest (LWW), median (MWW), and heaviest (HWW) at weaning (n = 32 pigs per WW category). Pigs were housed in metabolism crates for a 5-d acclimation period and a 27-d study and fed ad libitum quantities of a common diet containing titanium dioxide as an indigestible marker. Fecal grab samples and total urine were collected during a 3-d collection period at the beginning and end of the experiment. After the experiment, pigs within each WW category were further classified into the 33% slowest, median, or fastest ADG categories. This resulted in a total of 9 treatments in a nested design. Data were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS. There were no differences in ATTD according to WW at the beginning or end of the experiment, or when ADG was nested within WW at the beginning of the experiment. However, the ATTD of DM, GE, N, and ash, as well as the related DE, ME, and NE content, were greatest (P < 0.01) in the median ADG categories of pigs at the end of the experiment. Energy intake increased with increasing WW (P < 0.001; NE intake = 1.40, 1.64, and 1.89 Mcal/d for pigs from the LWW, MWW, and HWW, respectively). However, the ratio of calculated to actual ME intake was lower in LWW pigs than HWW pigs (P = 0.04; 1.03 and 1.10 for LWW and HWW pigs, respectively). When ADG was nested within WW category, both increasing WW and ADG increased (P < 0.001) energy intake, utilization, and efficiency for gain, energy retained as tissue, and retained GE. The calculated to actual ME intake ratio differed (P < 0.03), supposedly because of differences in thermoneutrality, and therefore maintenance requirements. Reduced postweaning ADG appears to be driven by a combination of poor nutrient digestibility, energy intake, and, possibly, cold stress, which may provide avenues for more directed pig management strategies in the future to minimize variation within a group.