Dietary Protein Reduction in Lean Pigs From Pietrain Paternal Line Under Commercial Setting: An Interplay Between...

Area of Science:

• Animal Nutrition
• Swine Production
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Dietary crude protein (CP) reduction is explored to minimize nitrogen (N) excretion in livestock.
• Optimizing amino acid profiles is crucial when lowering CP to maintain animal performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effects of reduced dietary CP on performance, N balance, and nutrient digestibility in finishing lean pigs.
• To assess the impact on blood markers, carcass, and meat quality, considering sex differences.
• To explore environmentally friendly feeding strategies for pigs.

Main Methods:

• A feeding trial with lean pigs (90-120 kg) comparing a standard CP diet (14.8%) with a reduced CP diet (12.6%) with essential amino acid (AA) supplementation.
• Evaluation of productive performance, N balance, blood parameters, nutrient digestibility, carcass, and meat quality.
• Analysis of results considering intact males and females.

Main Results:

• Growth performance was not impaired by the low-CP diet.
• Nitrogen excretion was significantly decreased.
• Apparent digestibility of most nutrients remained unaffected, except for phosphorus.
• Sex-specific differences were observed in serum urea and total protein levels (reduced in males).
• Meat nutritional quality decreased due to increased moisture content, while technological characteristics were unaffected.

Conclusions:

• Dietary CP restriction in finishing pigs can reduce N excretion without compromising growth performance.
• Careful AA balancing is necessary, and potential impacts on phosphorus digestibility and meat quality require consideration.
• Further research into sex-tailored feeding strategies is needed for sustainable, high-performance pig production.