Digestion in the pig between 7 and 35 d of age

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Abstract
1. In two separate experiments, forty-four pigs weaned at 4–5 d of age were given diets containing milk or soya-bean proteins until slaughtered at 14, 28 or 35 d of age.2. The retention times of digesta in the stomach and the entire gastro-intestinal tract did not differ between pigs given pelleted diets containing milk or soya-bean protein.3. Digesta retention times in the stomach were shorter (61 v. 146 min) in pigs given a milk-protein diet in a liquid form than in pigs given the same diet in a pelleted form. The retention times in the whole gastro-intestinal tract were 42.8 v. 29.6 h on the respective diets.4. The total retention time of digesta in the gastro-intestinal tract increased with age of pigs between 14–35 d of age when given pelleted diets but not when given a liquid diet.5. The daily amount of digesta flowing through the anterior small intestine was unaffected by the source of protein. Greater endogenous secretions into the anterior small intestine were observed when pigs were fed ad lib. than when fed at 2 g nitrogen (45 g dry matter (DM))/kg live weight0.75 per d.6. The apparent digestion of DM to the ileum of pigs given milk, isolated soya-bean protein (ISP) (Promine D) or soya-bean meal (SBM) protein at 28 d of age was 0.826, 0.825 and 0.644 respectively.7. The apparent digestion of DM to the ileum of pigs given ISP (Supro 610) significantly increased with age of pigs from 0.851 at 14 d of age to 0.883 at 35 d of age. No increase was observed for pigs given milk protein.8. Differences in the digestibility of DM between protein sources were greater to the ileum than over the entire gastro-intestinal tract. The greatest increase in DM digestion from the ileum to the faeces occurred in pigs given SBM (0.644–0.874).9. Neither the protein source nor age of pigs influenced gastric pH values, the mean value being 4.05. pH increased along the small intestine and was not affected by the protein source or age of pig.