Influence of dietary amino acid level on chemical body composition and performance of growing-finishing boars of two sire lines.

ABSTRACT

There is only little information available concerning the chemical body composition of growing-finishing boars. For that reason, a total of 26 entire male pigs (boars) of two different Piétrain sire lines were fed with different levels of dietary essential amino acids (EAA) and the influence of this treatment on performance and chemical body composition was evaluated. In addition, an initial group of eight boars (n = 4 per sire line) was slaughtered at approximately 21 kg live weight (LW). The other 26 boars were fed three different diets containing 11.5, 13.2 and 14.9 g lysine/kg during the grower period and 9.0, 10.4, 11.7 g lysine/kg during the finisher period, respectively. Other EAA were added in relation to lysine (Lys Met + Cys Thr Trp Val = 1 0.60 0.65 0.18 0.75). At a LW of approximately 122 kg these 26 boars (six groups with three to seven animals each) were also slaughtered. The effects of EAA level and sire line on fattening and slaughter performance was recorded, and body and weight gain composition were analysed. There were no significant effects of EAA level on performance or on chemical body composition. Boars sired with Piétrain line 1 demonstrated increased lean meat content and protein body content (p < 0.05) as compared to Piétrain line 2-sired boars.