Effects of dietary spray-dried plasma protein on nutrient digestibility and growth performance in nursery pigs

The objectives were to determine the digestible energy and standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids (AA; Exp. 1) and to determine growth performance (Exp. 2) of two sources of dietary spray-dried plasma protein (SDPP) in nursery pigs. In Exp. 1, twelve nursery barrows (9.8 ± 0.9 kg) were assigned to a quadruplicated 3 × 2 Latin square design with three diets and two periods. Each period consisted of 5 d of adaptation, 2 d of fecal sampling, and 2 d of ileal collection. A basal diet was composed of corn, soybean meal, whey, and sucrose as the sole energy and AA sources. Experimental diets were prepared by replacing 15% of the energy and AA sources in the basal diet with SDPP 1 (manufactured in the United States; 78.2% crude protein and 4,862 kcal gross energy/kg as-is) or SDPP 2 (manufactured in Korea; 74.3% crude protein and 4,636 kcal gross energy/kg as-is). Spray-dried plasma protein 1 had greater digestible energy (P < 0.05), but less (P < 0.05) standardized ileal digestibility of Lys, Met, Trp, and Thr compared with SDPP 2. In Exp. 2, eighty-four nursery pigs (7.9 ± 0.7 kg) were allotted to three dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design with seven replicate pens and four pigs per pen. Three corn-soybean meal-whey-based diets contained fish meal (6% and 3.5% for days 0 to 14 and 14 to 28, respectively), SDPP 1 (4.5% and 2.7%), or SDPP 2 (5.0% and 3.0%) to maintain same energy and nutrient concentrations. During days 0 to 14 and overall period, pigs fed the diets containing SDPP gained more weight (P < 0.05) than those fed the fish meal diet with no difference between two SDPP sources. In conclusion, SDPP 1 contains greater digestible energy but less AA digestibility compared with SDPP 2. Growth-promoting effects of both SDPP sources in nursery diets have been clearly demonstrated in this work.