Influence of protein levels on growth performance of Duroc and Crossbred pigs

Abstract

This experiment was conducted to determine the effect of protein levels on growth performance of duroc and crossbred Pigs. The experimental diets containing 18, 20 and 22 % protein. Nine duroc pigs (average body weight 6.73 kg) and nine crossbred (Large white x Landrace x Duroc) pigs (average body weight 7.63 kg) were used as experimental animal. Six pigs (three Duroc pigs and three Crossbred pigs) were used to determine growth performance. Pigs were kept in metabolism cage. The pigs were assigned to 7 days of preliminary period and 14 days of collected data periods. Daily weight gain for pigs fed 22% protein showed highly significant (P < 0.01) greater than 20 and 18 % protein were 185, 171 and 169 g/h/d respectively. Similarly, pigs fed 22 % protein showed higher gain/feed (P < 0.01) than pigs fed 20 and 18 % protein were 738, 684 and 676 g/kg, respectively. Furthermore, pigs fed 18 % protein showed higher protein efficiency ratio (P < 0.01) than pigs fed 20 and 22 % protein were 3.76, 3.42 and 3.35 respectively. Pigs fed 18 % protein showed higher net protein ratio (P < 0.01) than pigs fed 20 and 22 % protein were 4.78, 4.34 and 4.19 respectively. Furthermore, Duroc pigs and crossbred pigs showed non-significant (P>0.05) average daily gain, gain/ feed, protein efficiency ratio and net protein ratio.