Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Joel M. DeRouchey / Five experiments using a total of 4,470 pigs were used to determine the effects of dietary Cu and Zn source and finishing pig space allowance. Experiment 1 evaluated increasing dietary Zn from Zn hydroxychloride or ZnSO4 for finishing pigs. Increasing dietary Zn up to 100 mg/kg Zn maximized ADG and HCW with the greatest response observed during the last 37 d period when ractopamine was included in the diet. Pigs fed diets with Zn hydroxychloride had greater HCW compared to those fed ZnSO4. Experiment 2 evaluated increasing dietary Cu from either CuSO4 or a 50:50 blend of CuSO4:Cu-AA for finishing pigs. Pigs fed Cu from CuSO4 alone consumed more feed and tended to have poorer feed efficiency than those fed a 50:50 blend of Cu from CuSO4:Cu-AA. Pigs fed a 50:50 blend of CuSO4:Cu-AA had improved HCW G:F but ADG was unchanged on a live and HCW basis. Experiments 3 and 4 evaluated increasing dietary Cu from tri-basic copper chloride or a Cu-chelate for nursery pigs. In Exp. 3, increasing Cu from Cu-chelate to 150 mg/kg Cu increased ADG and ending BW. Increasing Cu to 150 mg/kg Cu increased ADFI and improved G:F. Pigs fed Cu from Cu-chelate had greater ADG, ADFI and ending BW than those fed Cu from tri-basic copper chloride. In Exp. 4, increasing Cu to 225 mg/kg Cu increased ADG and ending BW. Because ADFI was unchanged, G:F tended to be improved as Cu level increased. There were no differences detected between Cu sources for growth performance. Experiment 5 was conducted to determine the effects of increasing space allowance by pig removal or gate adjustment during the finishing period. Pigs provided 0.91 m2 had increased ADG compared with those allowed 0.63 m2 with pigs from pens provided increased space intermediate. Pigs provided 0.91 m2 had increased ADFI compared with pigs allowed 0.63 m2 and those where a pig was removed; however, pigs from pens where the gate was adjusted were intermediate. As pigs grew to the minimum predicted space requirement and were subsequently allowed more space, performance was greater than those initially provided 0.61 m2 but less than those allowed 0.91 m2.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Joel M. DeRouchey / Five experiments used 3,004 pigs to determine influences of wheat middlings (Midds), dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), and choice white grease (CWG) on growth, carcass traits, and carcass fat quality of finishing pigs and the optimal SID Trp:Lys in growing and finishing pigs fed 30% DDGS. In Exp. 1, pigs fed increasing dietary Midds had decreased (linear; P≤0.02) ADG and G:F. Feeding 30% DDGS did not influence growth performance. For carcass traits, increasing Midds decreased (linear; P<0.01) carcass yield, HCW, and backfat depth (quadratic; P<0.02) but increased (quadratic; P<0.01) FFLI. Feeding 30% DDGS decreased (P<0.03) carcass yield and backfat depth (P<0.01), but increased FFLI (P<0.02) and jowl fat IV (P<0.001). In Exp. 2, feeding 20% dietary Midds decreased (P<0.01) ADG and G:F. Pigs fed diets with increasing CWG had improved ADG (quadratic, P<0.03) and G:F (linear, P<0.01). Dietary Midds or CWG did not affect ADFI. For carcass traits, feeding 20% Midds decreased carcass yield (P<0.05), HCW, backfat depth, and loin depth, while increasing jowl fat IV (P<0.001). Pigs fed CWG also had decreased (linear, P<0.05) FFLI and increased (linear, P<0.01) jowl fat iodine value. In conclusion, feeding Midds reduced pig growth performance, carcass yield, and increased jowl fat IV. In Exp. 3, xylanase supplementation did not improve growth performance or carcass traits of pigs fed different dietary energy and fiber levels. Increasing dietary energy increased (linear; P<0.001) ADG and G:F with no affect on ADFI. Increasing dietary energy increased (linear; P<0.01) yield, HCW, backfat depth, and reduced FFLI (linear; P<0.001) and jowl fat iodine value (linear; P<0.001). Apparent total tract digestibility of ADF improved (P<0.002) with the addition of dietary xylanase; however, there were no differences in any other nutrient digestibility criteria. As dietary energy increased, there was an increase (linear; P<0.02) in apparent digestibility of DM, N, fat, GE, ADF, and NDF. In Exp. 4 and 5, results indicated the optimal SID Trp:Lys was 16.5% from 36.3 to 72.6 kg, but at least 19.5% from 72.6 to 120.2 kg in corn-soybean meal diets containing 30% DDGS.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Joel DeRouchey / Seven experiments using a total of 2,997 nursery and finishing pigs were used to determine the effects of: 1) dietary wheat middlings (midds), dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), and NE diet formulation on nursery pig growth performance; 2) corn particle size, complete diet grinding, and diet form on finishing pig growth performance, and carcass characteristics, and 3) particle size, complete diet grinding, and diet form on nursery pig growth. Experiments 1-4 evaluated dietary wheat middlings at levels of up to 20% of the diet for 7 to 23 kg pigs. Increasing dietary midds decreased growth performance but mainly when 10% of more was added. Balancing diets containing 10 or 20% midds on a NE basis had no significant effects on performance compared with not adjusting for NE of the diet. In Exp. 5, the effects of decreasing particle size, complete diet grinding, and diet form were evaluated on finishing pig growth performance, and carcass characteristics. Diet form × portion ground interactions existed for ADG, ADFI, and HCW as grinding the complete diet in meal form was detrimental to performance but advantageous to performance when diets were fed in pelleted form. Reducing the particle size of corn improved G:F and caloric efficiencies. Pelleting the diet improved ADG, G:F, caloric efficiencies, HCW, and loin depth. Experiment 6 evaluated varying particle sizes, diet form, and complete diet grinding on nursery pig growth performance. Pigs fed pelleted diets had improved ADG, G:F, and caloric efficiencies. Fine grinding corn or the complete diet with high by-products diet decreased ADG, ADFI, G:F, and final BW. Experiment 7 evaluated varying particle sizes of corn and DDGS, diet form, and complete diet grinding on nursery pig growth performance. Pigs fed finely ground corn had decreased ADFI when the diet was fed in pellet form and more severe reductions in ADFI when diets were fed in meal form resulting in a diet form × corn particle size interaction. Pigs fed pelleted diets had decreased ADG, ADFI, G:F and final BW, but improved caloric efficiencies. Finely grinding corn decreased ADG, and feeding DDGS decreased ADG, ADFI, and NE caloric efficiency.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Michael Tokach / In 3 experiments, 4,720 pigs were used to determine the effects of: 1) dietary fat and feeding duration on growth performance and fat quality in finishing pigs; or 2) a novel protease or 3) increasing levels of Zn amino acid complex (ZnAA) or ZnO on finishing pig performance. Experiment 1 tested the effects of feeding tallow, soybean oil, or a blend of the two for various feeding durations (d 0 to 42, 42 to 84, or 0 to 84). Overall, pigs fed added fat for the entire 84 d had improved G:F compared to those fed a control diet. Additionally, pigs fed additional fat for the entire study had improved ADG and G:F as well as increased d 84 BW compared to pigs fed additional fat for 42 d. Increasing the feeding duration of soybean oil lowered monounsaturated fatty acids and increased polyunsaturated fatty acid concentrations while these values remained relatively unchanged by the addition of tallow. There were feeding period by fat source interactions for fatty acid composition and iodine value for belly and backfat, but not jowl fat, indicating a longer turnover rate for jowl fat compared to belly or backfat. In Exp. 2, adding a protease to a nutrient deficient diet increased ADFI and tended to increase ADG compared to pigs fed a negative control diet. There were no differences observed in ADG, ADFI, or G:F between pigs fed a positive control diet, formulated to 90% of the pigs SID lysine requirement, and those fed a negative control diet plus the protease, which would suggest the release values attributed to the enzyme were accurate. In Exp. 3, supplementing additional Zn from either ZnAA or ZnO at 25, 50, or 75 ppm in finishing diets for commercial finishing pigs was evaluated. Overall, no differences were observed in ADFI, but a Zn source by level interaction was observed for ADG and G:F, as pigs fed increasing ZnO were observed to have similar performance, while pigs fed added levels of 25 and 50 ppm Zn from ZnAA had decreased performance compared to those fed the highest level of ZnAA.

Dietary inclusion of sufficient lysine is very critical for optimizing pig’s growth performance. The objectives of this project were to study the effects of dietary lysine at different concentrations on (1) the growth performance and carcass characteristics, (2) the muscle gene expression profile and the possible alterations to the metabolic and signaling pathways, (3) the muscle fatty acid profile, and (4) the plasma concentrations of growth-related hormones of late-stage finishing pigs. Nine crossbred barrows were assigned to 3 dietary treatments (lysine-deficient, equate, and -excess diets) according to a completely randomized experimental design. During the 5-week feeding trial, pigs were allowed ad libitum access to experimental diets and water. All pigs and experimental diets were weighed individually each week during feeding trial to determine growth performance. After harvest, the carcass characteristics were determined and muscle samples were collected from longissimus dorsi for mRNA and fatty acid profiling, while the jugular vein blood was collected at the end of four weeks for analyses of three growth-related hormones. While the average daily gain showed a quadratic relationship, the dressing percentage and total lean cut weight both increased linearly with dietary lysine concentrations. Results of muscle gene expression data showed that dietary lysine deficiency may lead to decreased protein synthesis, increased protein degradation and lipid accumulation, while dietary lysine excess may lead to decreased protein degradation and increased lipid biosynthesis. Fatty acid (FA) composition data showed that different dietary lysine concentrations altered the intramuscular fat (IMF) content and FA composition, especially the unsaturated FAs. In particular, dietary lysine deficiency increased the IMF content and the proportion of mono-unsaturated FAs. Hormone analyses showed that the plasma concentrations of insulin and growth hormone were not affected by dietary lysine, whereas the concentration of insulin-like growth factor 1 was decreased by either dietary lysine deficiency or excess. Collectively, lysine may function as a signaling molecule to regulate the expression of genes related to protein turnover and lipid metabolism in the muscle of finishing pigs, causing differences in growth performance, carcass characteristics, and FA composition. IGF-1 may be a controlling growth factor that is sensitive to dietary lysine.

Doctor of Philosophy / Animal Sciences and Industry / Michael D. Tokach / Three experiments using 2,385 pre-weaned pigs, growing pigs, and sows were performed in addition to a meta-analysis and industry survey. Experiment 1 tested the effects of sow vitamin D supplementation from vitamin D₃ (low, medium, or high) or 25OHD₃ (same IU equivalency as the medium level of vitamin D₃) on maternal performance, neonatal pig bone and muscle characteristics, subsequent pre-weaned pig performance and serum 25OHD₃ with only differences in serum 25OHD₃ being impacted. In the second experiment a subsample of pigs weaned from the maternal portion of the study were used in a split-plot design and fed 2 different forms of vitamin D in the nursery and growth performance was evaluated until the pigs reached market weight. Overall, the nursery vitamin D treatments did not impact growth; however, pigs from sows fed the medium level of vitamin D₃ performed better after weaning compared to pigs from sows fed the low or the high level of vitamin D₃, and serum 25OHD₃ was altered based on maternal and nursery vitamin D supplementation. In the third experiment, finishing pigs were initially provided 2 different floor space allowances (0.64 or 0.91 m²) and pigs initially provided 0.64 m² were subject to 1 of 3 marketing strategies which removed the heaviest pigs from the pen in order to provide additional floor space to the pigs remaining in the pen. Overall, pigs initially provided more floor space had improved ADG and ADFI, but increasing the number of marketing events increased ADG of the pigs remaining in the pen following market events. The meta-analysis suggested that a multi-term empirical model using random effects to account for known error and weighted observations to account for heterogeneous experimental designs and replication provided models that best fit the database. Also, the meta-analysis concluded that floor space allowance does influence ADG, ADFI, and G:F and BW of the pig can alter the floor space response. Finally, the vitamin and trace mineral survey suggested that a wide range of supplementation practices are used in the swine industry but most production systems supplement micronutrients above the basal requirement estimates of the animals.