Konkuk University Gwangjin-gu, Seoul-t'ukpyolsi, Republic of Korea
The objectives were to determine the digestible energy, standardized ileal digestibility of AA, and growth performance 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 3 diets and 2 periods. Each period consisted of 5 days of adaptation, 2 days of fecal sampling, and 2 days of ileal collection. A basal diet was composed of corn, soybean meal, dried 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 US; 78.2% CP and 4,862 kcal GE/kg as-is) or SDPP 2 (manufactured in Korea; 74.3% CP and 4,636 kcal GE/kg as-is). Spray-dried plasma protein 1 had greater digestible energy (4,799 vs. 4,469 kcal/kg as-is; P < 0.05), but less (P < 0.05) standardized ileal digestibility of lysine, methionine, tryptophan, and threonine compared with SDPP 2. In Exp. 2, eighty-four nursery pigs (7.9 ± 0.7 kg) were allotted to 3 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design with 7 replicate pens and 4 pigs per pen. Three corn-soybean meal-whey-based diets contained fish meal (6% and 3.5% for d 0 to 14 and d 14 to 28, respectively), SDPP 1 (4.5% and 2.7%), or SDPP 2 (5% and 3%) to maintain same energy and nutrient concentrations. During d 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 2 sources of SDPP. Overall, 2 sources of SDPP have different energy concentrations and AA digestibility, but similar growth promoting effects in nursery pigs.