Determining of the Effect of Lysine:calorie Ratio on Growth Performance and Blood Urea Nitrogen of Growing Barrows and Gilts in Hot Season and Cool Season in a Commercial Environment

Two experiments were conducted to determine an optimum Lys:calorie ratio (g of total dietary Lys/Mcal of DE) for growing barrows and gilts in cool and hot seasons in a commercial environment. In Exp. 1, 96 barrows and 96 gilts were randomly allocated in 1 of 4 dietary treatments (2.7, 3.0, 3.3, 3.6 g of Lys/Mcal of DE). Each treatment had 12 replicate pens with 4 pigs per pen. The experiment lasted for 34 d in the cool season (March 12th to April 15th). Diets were based on corn-wheat-soybean meal. Lys:calorie ratio were attained by adjusting the amount of corn and soybean and supplementation of crystalline Lys. Total Lys intake and available Lys intake were increased (p<.05) as dietary Lys:calorie ratio increased. The BUN concentration on d 34 for barrows, and BUN change for barrows and gilts linearly increased (p<0.05) in response to increasing dietary Lys:calorie ratio. For gilts, back fat was decreased and then increased (Quadratically, p<0.05) as increasing dietary lys:calorie ratio. Exp. 2 had a similar design as Exp. 1 with the exception that Exp. 2 was conducted in hot season (June 30th to September 11th) for 42 d. Diet of Exp. 2 was the same as Exp. 1. Total Lys intake and available Lys intake increased (p<0.05) as dietary Lys:calorie increased. On d 42, the BUN concentration increased (p<0.05) in response to the increasing dietary Lys:calorie ratio. In conclusion, dietary Lys:calorie ratio of 2.7 g of Lys/Mcal of DE could satisfy the requirement of 25 to 50 kg growing pigs. Increasing dietary Lys:calorie ratio could increase BUN concentration in growing pigs.