Effects of processing and the physical form of diets on digestibility and the performance of nursery piglets

Abstract

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of various diet processing methods and physical forms on digestibility and zootechnical performance parameters of nursery piglets. The study was performed in 2 phases. The first phase was performed twice with 120 piglets per experiment, for a total of 240 newly weaned piglets, in a randomized block design with 6 treatments and 5 replicates (30 pens). The following experimental diets were offered from weaning to 21 days after weaning (initial nursery phase) and included the following: mash diet (M); mash diet conditioned at 60ºC (CM); diet pelleted at 60ºC/matrix 2.5 mm (P2.5); diet pelleted at 60ºC/matrix 2.5 mm and crumbled (P2.5C); diet pelleted at 60ºC/matrix 4.75 mm (P4.75); and diet pelleted at 60ºC/matrix 4.75 mm and crumbled (P4.75C). The animals’ daily weight gain (DWG), daily feed intake (DFI) and feed conversion (FC) were assessed. Phase 2 used 24 piglets (33 days old) from Phase 1, which were lodged in individual metabolic cages. The experiment employed a randomized block design with 4 treatments and 6 replicates: mash diet (M); mash diet conditioned at 60ºC (CM); diet pelleted at 60ºC/matrix 2.5 mm (P2.5); and diet pelleted at 60ºC/matrix 4.75 mm (P4.75). Feces were collected to analyze the digestibility of and apparent digestible energy in dry matter, gross energy and ether extract. The processing and physical form of the diets did not affect the DWG and DFI of the 21- to 39-day-old piglets. The 2.5-mm-diameter pellets induced better FC compared to the crumbled and conditioned crumbled diets (P < 0.05), which might be attributed to the better digestibility of the ether extract in the pelleted diets. Pellet size had no effect on the performance parameters.