Independent effects of energy intake and body weight on physical and chemical body composition in growing pigs
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Abstract
Research was conducted to determine the independent effects of digestible energy intake (DEi) and body weight (BW) on physical and chemical body composition in growing-finishing pigs. Fifty-six Yorkshire entire male pigs were fed one of four levels of DEi between 15 and 115 kg BW, and slaughtered at 40, 65, 90, and 115 kg BW. Between 15 and 90 kg BW, average DEi were 16.05, 20.86, 25.15, and 28.78 MJ/d, and supported gains of 502, 731, 899, and 951 g/d, respectively. Increased BW and decreased DEi were associated with decreased proportion and content of protein in the whole body. Whole body lipid content increased with DEi and BW while the contribution of visceral lipid to whole body lipid was not affected by DEi and BW. Absolute DEi alone was an adequate predictor of chemical body composition in this population of entire male pigs over the BW and DEi ranges that were evaluated.