Source: Pat Melgares, Farm Journal’s Pork, National Pork Board and the Pork Checkoff, 11 November 2022
Kansas State University researchers have completed work indicating that increased levels of a common feed grade amino acid can improve growth in swine herds – to a point.
In a recent 43-day trial involving 912 pigs, the team of scientists tested varying levels of feed grade amino acids with L-lysine added to the diets of late nursery and growing pigs.
Amino acids – in humans and animals – are molecules that combine to form proteins. They are often referred to as the building blocks of life.
“We found that if we increase the percentage of L-Lysine as a proportion of total digestible lysine, daily gain and feed efficiency improves,” said K-State graduate student Hadley Williams, who led the study.
But the researchers also found that when the proportion of total digestible lysine exceeds 24% of the diet, feed efficiency worsened.
In K-State’s trial, researchers found that decreasing the amount of soybean meal below 30% and increasing the amount of L-lysine could positively impact growth performance, assuming all other amino acid ratios are adequate.
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The South African Pork Producers’ Organisation (SAPPO) coordinates industry interventions and collaboratively manages risks in the value chain to enable the sustainability and profitability of pork producers in South Africa.
