Effects of Dietary Lysine Levels on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Serum Metabolites, and Meat Quality of Baqing Pigs

SIMPLE SUMMARY: This study investigated the effects of different standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys levels on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, serum metabolites, and carcass and meat traits of Baqing pigs. The results revealed that the addition of dietary SID Lys was beneficial for the average daily feed intake (ADFI), gain to feed ratio (G/F), and average daily gain (ADG) of Baqing pigs at the growth phase. The serum concentrations of triglycerides, lysine, and histidine increased by increasing dietary Lys levels. Compared with the treatment three group, dietary SID Lys addition content at treatment four increased the shear force of the longissimus dorsi muscle, but it did not affect the other carcass and meat traits. The SID Lys requirement of 20–40 kg, 40–60 kg, and 60–90 kg of Baqing pigs fed corn–soybean meal-based diets is estimated to be 0.92%, 0.66%, and 0.55% of the diets, respectively. ABSTRACT: This study was carried out to determine the Lys requirements of Baqing pigs and the effects of different dietary lysine levels on growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility, serum metabolites, and carcass and meat traits. A total of 120 castrated Baqing pigs were selected by body weight and randomly assigned to five dietary treatments with six replicate pens (4 pigs per pen, castrated) per treatment in a randomized complete block design. Five diets in mash form were formulated to contain SID Lys at 0.56%, 0.68%, 0.80%, 0.92%, and 1.04% of diet in phase 1 (20–40 kg), at 0.45%, 0.54%, 0.63%, 0.72%, and 0.81% of diet in phase 2 (40–60 kg), and at 0.39%, 0.47%, 0.55%, 0.63%, and 0.71% of diet in phase 3 (60–90 kg), respectively. The results showed that the bodyweight of pigs was not affected by dietary SID Lys content during each period. However, the addition of dietary SID Lys linearly reduced F/G in the first period and quadratically increased ADG during the second period (p < 0.05). The digestible energy (DE) was increased linearly and quadratically in the first phases with the dietary increased SID Lys levels, while DE was reduced in the third and second phases (p < 0.05). Increasing SID Lys contents linearly increased the serum TG concentration and quadratically decreased the serum GLU concentration, while linearly reducing the serum HDLC concentration of first period pigs (p < 0.05). Serum concentrations of TP, TG, TC, and LDLC were increased linearly with the increasing dietary SID Lys levels in the second period (p < 0.05). The serum concentrations of Lys increased quadratically, and histidine increased linearly with the increased dietary SID Lys levels (p < 0.05). Compared with the treatment three group, dietary SID Lys addition content at treatment four increased the shear force of the longissimus dorsi muscle (p < 0.05), but it did not affect the other carcass and meat traits. The optimal SID Lys requirement of 20–40 kg, 40–60 kg, and 60–90 kg of Baqing pigs fed corn–soybean meal-based diets is estimated to be 0.92%, 0.66%, and 0.55% of the diets by the quadratic curve models, respectively.