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Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate various wheat supplementation levels on growth performance, blood profiles, nutrient digestibility, and pork quality in growing-finishing pigs. Methods: A total of 120 growing pigs ([Yorkshire×Landrace]×Duroc), with an average 27.75 ± 1.319 kg body weight, were used in growth trial. Pigs were allotted into each treatment by body weight and sex in 4 replicates with 6 pigs per pen in a randomized complete block design. Four-phase feeding programs were used in this experiment. The treatments included the following: i) corn-soybean meal (SBM) - based diet (CON), ii) corn-SBM - based diet+15% of wheat (W15), iii) corn-SBM - based diet+30% of wheat (W30), iv) corn-SBM - based diet+45% of wheat (W45), and 5) corn-SBM-based diet+60% of wheat (W60). Results: There was no significant difference in growth performance among the dietary treatments. However, the gain-to-feed (G:F) ratio tended to increase (quadratic, p<0.08) when the pigs were fed a higher wheat diet during the finishing period. The digestibility of crude ash and fat tended to decrease as the wheat supplementation level increased (p<0.08). The proximate analysis of the longissimus muscle was not affected by the dietary level of wheat. The crude ash content in pork was decreased linearly as the wheat supplementation level increased (p = 0.05). There was no significant difference in the pH level, shear force, water holding capacity, and cooking loss of the pork. In pork and fat, L*, a*, and b* values were not significantly different among dietary treatments. Conclusion: Wheat can be supplemented up to 60% in a growing-finishing pig without detrimental effects on growth and pork quality. The G:F ratio tended to improve in the finishing period by wheat inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary cashew nut testa (CNT) as an alternative feed ingredient to wheat bran on reproductive performance, litter performance, milk composition, and blood profiles of gestating sows. Methods: Forth multiparous sows (YorkshirexLandrace) were fed experimental diets starting at 35 days of pregnancy and an initial average body weight (BW) of 211.53±8.86 kg. Each sow was assigned to a treatment based on BW, backfat thickness (BF) and parity with 10 sows per treatment. Treatments were as follows: i) cornsoybean meal based diet with 6% of wheat bran (C0); ii) basal diet with 2% of CNT and 4% of wheat bran (C2); iii) basal diet with 4% of CNT and 2% of wheat bran (C4); and iv) basal diet with 6% of CNT (C6). Results: There were no statistically significant differences in BW and BF of gestating sows throughout the experimental period. However, changes in BF (p = 0.09) and the daily feed intake of sows (p = 0.09) tended to linearly increase during the lactation period. The weaning to estrus interval (WEI) showed a quadratic response to CNT treatment (p = 0.02), and the C2 diet showed the shortest WEI. Litter birth weight (p = 0.04) and piglet birth weight (p = 0.06) were linearly decreased with increase in CNT. Furthermore, there had no significant differences in piglet weight and litter weight in 21 day. Insulin concentration at day 70 of gestation was linearly reduced with increasing CNT level in diets (p = 0.03). Conclusion: When 6% CNT replaced wheat bran in gestating sow diets, there were no negative effects on sow performance, but litter birth weight and piglet birth weight were decreased when CNT level increased in gestating sow diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of reducing dietary metabolic energy (ME) and crude protein (CP) levels on growth performance, blood profiles, and nutrient digestibility in weaning pigs. Methods: A total of 240 crossbred pigs (Duroc×[Landrace×Yorkshire]) with an average body weight of 8.67±1.13 kg were used for a 6-week feeding trial. Experimental pigs were allotted to a 2×3 factorial arrangement using a randomized complete block design. The first factor was two levels of dietary ME density (low ME level, 13.40 MJ/kg or high ME level, 13.82 MJ/kg) and the second factor was three dietary CP levels based on subdivision of early and late weaning phases (low CP level, 19.7%/16.9%; middle CP level, 21.7%/18.9%; or high CP level, 23.7%/20.9%). Results: Over the entire experimental period, there were no significant difference in body weight among groups, but a decrease in diet energy level was associated with an increase in average daily feed intake (p = 0.02) and decrease in gain-feed ratio (G:F) ratio (p<0.01). Decreased CP levels in the diet were associated with a linear increase in average daily gain (p< 0.05) and quadratic increase in G:F ratio (p<0.05). In the early weaning period, blood urea nitrogen concentration tended to increase when ME in the diet decreased and decrease when CP level in the diet decreased (p = 0.09, p<0.01, respectively). Total protein concentration tended to increase when CP level was reduced (p = 0.08). In the late weaning period, blood urea nitrogen concentration decreased linearly as CP level decreased (p<0.01). The CP and crude fat digestibility decreased when ME was decreased by 0.42 MJ/kg (p = 0.05, p = 0.01, respectively). The CP digestibility increased linearly as CP level decreased (p = 0.01). Conclusion: A weaning pig diet containing high ME level (13.82 MJ/kg) and low CP level (19.7%/16.9%) can improve pig growth performance and nutrient digestibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This experiment was carried out to determine the effects of different creep feed types on suckling performance and further adjustments to solid feed after weaning. Methods: A total of 24 multiparous sows and their litters were allotted to one of three treatment groups: i) provided highly digestible creep feed (Creep), ii) provided a pig weaning diet (Weaner), and iii) provided sow feed (Sow) as creep feed until weaning. After weaning, a total of 96 piglets were selected for evaluation of post-weaning performance. Results: For pre-weaning performance, the Creep treatment led to a significantly higher feed intake from 14 to 28 d (p<0.05) and higher body weight gain from 21 to 28 d than piglets that were provided other diets. However, after weaning, the Weaner treatment yielded a significantly higher feed intake and average daily gain than other treatments from 0 to 14 d after weaning (p<0.05); Creep treatment tended to generate lower villus heights in the duodenum than the other treatments (p = 0.07). Conclusion: Highly digestible creep feed improved pre-weaning performance, but feed familiarity and grain-based creep feed improved post-weaning performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This experiment was conducted to investigate the influence of rapeseed meal (RSM) supplementation in weaning pig diet on growth performance, blood profile, carcass characteristics and economic analysis on weaning to finishing pigs. Methods: A total of 120 cross bred ([Yorkshire×Landrace]×Duroc) weaning pigs were allotted to 5 treatments in a randomized complete block design. Each treatment had 4 replications with 6 pigs per pen. Five different levels of RSM (0%, 2%, 4%, 6%, and 8%) were used as dietary treatments. Results: Overall, no treatment showed significant differences in growth performance with increased dietary RSM levels. The concentration of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) decreased as dietary RSM levels increased in 6 weeks (linear response, p<0.01). Total cholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triiodothyronine, and thyroxine showed no significant differences, neither were there any significant differences in the immune response (IgG and IgA). As the dietary RSM levels of weaning pig diet were increased, no differences were found among dietary treatments upon performing proximate analyses of the pork after finishing. The influence of RSM supplementation on nutrient digestibility and nitrogen retention were not affected by dietary RSM levels either. With increased dietary RSM levels in the weaning pig diet, no differences among dietary treatments were found after performing proximate analyses of the pork's physiochemical properties. In addition, there were no significant differences observed in pork colors, pH levels, and economic benefits. Conclusion: Consequently, this experiment demonstrated that weaning pig's diet containing RSM influenced BUN concentration, but there were no detrimental effects on the growth performance of weaning pigs with up to 8% RSM in the diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although growth rate is one of the main economic traits of concern in pig production, there is limited knowledge on its epigenetic regulation, such as DNA methylation. In this study, we conducted methyl-CpG binding domain protein-enriched genome sequencing (MBD-seq) to compare genome-wide DNA methylation profile of small intestine and liver tissue between fast- and slowgrowing weaning piglets. The genome-wide methylation pattern between the two different growing groups showed similar proportion of CpG (regions of DNA where a cytosine nucleotide occurs next to a guanine nucleotide in the linear sequence) coverage, genomic regions, and gene regions. Differentially methylated regions and genes were also identified for downstream analysis. In canonical pathway analysis using differentially methylated genes, pathways (triacylglycerol pathway, some cell cycle related pathways, and insulin receptor signaling pathway) expected to be related to growth rate were enriched in the two organ tissues. Differentially methylated genes were also organized in gene networks related to the cellular development, growth, and carbohydrate metabolism. Even though further study is required, the result of this study may contribute to the understanding of epigenetic regulation in pig growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]