Evaluation of 3 levels of milk whey added to pigs line topigs c-40 diet in development and fattening fase

Abstract

The present study was carried out in Los Cerritos, Canton Veracruz, Ciudad Arce, El Salvador, from September to December 2015, with the objective of evaluating the use of whey in the diet of pigs of the Topigs C-40 line. Twenty-four pigs (12 males and 12 females), aged 10 weeks and 35 kg average weight were used, two phases were considered: development (weeks 11 to 18) and 2) fattening (week 19 to 24). The diets were formulated with the same nutritional composition to meet the requirements of the topigs c-40 line. The control diet (T1) was formulated with corn, soybean bran, fat and a nucleus. This was compared with three treatments consisting of increasing levels of whey in development (T2= 4L, T3= 7L, T4= 12L) and fattening (T2= 6L, T3= 10L, T4= 14L) respectively, reducing in all cases the equivalent of whey added (dry basis) to the concentrate. Pigs were weighed weekly to calculate weight gain and feed conversion, which were considered variables under study. The data were analyzed by means of a general linear model considering the differences significant at a probability of 95 % (P<0.05). An economic comparison was made by means of partial budgets. Significant differences were found in the variables weight gain and feed conversion in the development phase, but not in the fattening phase. The treatments generated differences in live weight and weight gain, but did not affect feed conversion. The T2 treatment showed better results in productive performance, while T3 generated the greatest economic benefit; however, the results of T4 were lower productively but economically superior to the control diet. It is concluded that the use of liquid whey can be incorporated into the Topigs C-40 pig diet as an alternative ingredient, provided that similar conditions are maintained as in this study.