A comparison of the nutritive values of fish meal and meat and bone meal as protein supplements to barley meal diets for growing pigs

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Abstract
Three experiments were conducted with Large White × Landrace pigs growing from 45 to 125 1b live weight. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that in barley meal diets of similar crude protein content the incorporation of a 50/50 mixture of fish meal and meat and bone meal as the protein concentrate, rather than of meat and bone meal alone, resulted in: faster and more efficient gain over the periods 45 to 85 lb and 85 to 125 lb live weight; greater daily intake of digestible energy; and possibly greater nitrogen retention over the early stages of the growth period. Composition of the carcasses of pigs fed the two diets was similar. Increases in the dietary concentration of meat and bone meal from 18 to 30% had no effect on the rate or efficiency of gain at any stage over the period 45 to 125 lb live weight, but appeared to depress the rate of digestible energy intake and to increase the rate of nitrogen retention. In Experiment 3, in which isocaloric diets were fed, pigs receiving a barley meal diet containing a 50/50 mixture of fish meal and meat and bone meal grew faster and more efficiently than those fed diets containing meat and bone meal as the sole protein concentrate, supplemented with either lysine or methionine or both. However, differences between rates of gain from 85 to 125 lb live weight were small and not statistically significant (P > 0.05). It is concluded that factors other than the digestible energy content and the lysine, methionine, and cystine contents of a barley meal diet containing meat and bone meal as the sole protein concentrate may contribute to the relatively poor growth-promoting ability of such a diet when fed to young growing pigs.

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