An Evaluation of Barley in Starter Diets for Swine

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Abstract
Four growth trials and one digestibility trial were conducted to determine the effects of substituting barley for grain sorghum in weanling pig diets on pig performance and nutrient digestibility. Experiments 1 and 2 were 35-d growth trials in which barley was substituted for gain sorghum at levels of 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40% of the diet. Average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion (F/G) were not affected by dietary barley level (P > .50). Experiment 3 was a digestibility trial conducted to determine the apparent digestibility of dry matter (DMD), gross energy (GED), and N (ND) and percentage of N retained (%NRT) of pigs fed the 0, 20 and 40% barley diets. As dietary barley level increased, DMD and GED decreased linearly (P < .05), whereas %NRT increased linearly (P < .10). Apparent N digestibility was not affected by dietary treatment (P > .12). Experiments 4 and 5 were 35-d growth trials with treatments arranged in a 2 × 3 factorial design to determine the effects of barley particle size (fine, 635 µm or medium, 768 µm) and dried whey level (0, 10 or 20%) on pig performance. Average daily gain and ADFI increased linearly (P < .01) as whey level increased. Pigs fed diets containing fine-ground barley grew faster and were more efficient (P < .05) than those fed medium-ground barley diets. Pigs fed the control diet grew faster (P < .05) than those fed any of the barley diets, but their F/G was similar to that of those fed fine-ground barley diets. These results suggest that increasing levels of dried whey improves ADG and ADFI of pigs fed barley-based starter diets, and that decreasing particle size of the diet improves ADG and F/G. From these experiments, it would appear that the performance of weanling pigs fed a barley-soybean meal diet containing 20% dried whey is approximately 92 to 100% that of pigs fed a 20% dried whey-grain sorghum-soybean meal diet.