Effects of Dietary Standardized Ileal Digestible (SID) Lysine (Lys) Levels and Dietary SID Tryptophan to Lys Ratios on Growth Performance of Late-Nursery Maternal Barrows

Abstract The objective was to determine the effects of dietary standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine (Lys) levels and SID tryptophan (Trp) to Lys ratios on the growth performance of late-nursery maternal barrows. A total of 2,293 barrows (PIC Camborough, initially 11.9 ± 0.35 kg) were used in a 28-day trial with 96 mixed-sex pens in two rooms (48 pens/room), 16 pens/treatment, and 23 to 25 pigs/pen. Pens were blocked by body weight (BW) and randomly allotted to 1 of 6 treatments in a 2×3 factorial arrangement. Treatment factors were: 1) Dietary SID Lys levels: meet PIC SID Lys recommendation at 1.234% (PIC LYS) or below PIC SID Lys recommendation at 0.988% (BELOW LYS); 2) Dietary SID Trp to Lys ratios: 21.0, 18.5, and 16.0. Data were analyzed using a linear mixed model in R Studio (Version 3.5.2, R Core Team; Vienna, Austria). Dietary SID Lys levels, dietary SID Trp to Lys ratios, and their interaction were included as fixed effects, and room and weight block were included as random effects in the model. Pigs fed with PIC LYS diets showed significantly improved average daily gain (ADG; 672 vs. 594 g; P < 0.001), average daily feed intake (ADFI; 1227 vs. 1179 g; P < 0.001), gain-to-feed ratio (G:F; 550 vs. 508 g/kg; P = 0.002), and greater amount of SID Lys intake (22.5 vs. 19.5; P < 0.05) or Trp intake (4.2 vs. 3.6; P < 0.05) per kg of BW gain comparing to BELOW LYS diets. Significant interactive effects were observed between dietary SID Lys levels and dietary SID Trp and Lys ratios on final BW, ADG, ADFI, and G:F (P < 0.05; Table 1). For final BW and ADG, when feeding PIC LYS diets, decreasing dietary SID Trp to Lys ratios increased final BW and ADG (quadratic, P < 0.05); but when feeding BELOW LYS diets the decreasing ratios reduced final BW and ADG (quadratic, P < 0.05). For ADFI, when feeding PIC LYS diets, there was no evidence that decreasing dietary SID Trp to Lys ratios impacted ADFI (P > 0.05); but when feeding BELOW LYS diets the decreasing ratios reduced ADFI (quadratic, P < 0.05). When feeding PIC LYS diets, the decreasing dietary SID Trp to Lys ratios decreased and then increased G:F (quadratic, P < 0.05); but when feeding BELOW LYS diets, the decreasing ratios increased and then decreased G:F (quadratic, P < 0.05). In conclusion, late-nursery maternal barrows fed the PIC LYS diet had improved growth performance compared with those fed BELOW LYS diet; and decreasing dietary SID Trp to Lys ratios from 21.0 to 16.0 had deleterious impacts on growth performance when dietary SID Lys level was below PIC recommendation, but not when dietary SID Lys level met PIC recommendation.