Effects of cracked corn on growth performance and stomach lesions in finishing pigs
SM Williams, CB Paulk, JD Hancock, S Issa, and TL Gugle, 2010. Swine day, Kansas State University, Report progress 1038: 115-118.
22-Feb-2011 (15 years 3 months 17 days ago)In finishing pigs, a 1.2 to 1.4% of improvement in feed efficiency occurs for each 100-μm reduction in the particle size of corn. While decreasing particle size is an important economic factor in overall feed cost per pig, several studies have shown an increase in stomach lesions with a reduction of diet particle size. These increases in stomach lesions can lead to higher mortality from ulcer development. Colleagues in the poultry industry have suggested that feeding whole and cracked grain can improve gut health without negatively affecting growth performance in broilers. However, research is not currently available to determine if a similar strategy could be effective in swine. The objective of this experiment is to determine the effects on growth performance, carcass measurements, and stomach lesions when cracked corn is added to diets for finishing pigs.
A total of 208 pigs (104 barrows and 104 gilts, initial average 62.6 kg) were used in a 63-d experiment to determine the effects of adding cracked corn to diets for finishing pigs. The pigs were sorted by ancestry and blocked by weight with 13 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. Treatments were corn-soybean meal-based with none, 10, 20, or 40% roller-milled corn (mean particle size of 3,549 μm). Particle size for the none, 10, 20, and 40% cracked corn diets were 684, 926, 979, and 1,187 μm, respectively. Feed and water were offered ad libitum until slaughter (average final BW of 121.6 kg) at a commercial facility.
Overall (d 0 to 63), increasing cracked corn from none to 40% had no effect on ADG (P > 0.98) and ADFI (P > 0.41), but F/G was numerically poorer (linear, P < 0.11). Adding cracked corn had no effect on hot carcass weight (P > 0.17) or backfat thickness (P > 0.69), but dressing percentage was decreased (linear effect, P < 0.05). For both stomach keratinization and ulcer scores, as the percentage of cracked corn increased, there was a decrease (linear, P < 0.009) in scores for ulcers and stomach keratinization (scale of 0 = none, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, and 3 = severe), but even the worst treatment had an average lesion score of less than mild. It is concluded that increasing cracked corn from none to 40% of diets for finishing pigs did not affect rate of gain but worsened F/G and dressing percentage with only slight improvements in scores for stomach lesions.
A total of 208 pigs (104 barrows and 104 gilts, initial average 62.6 kg) were used in a 63-d experiment to determine the effects of adding cracked corn to diets for finishing pigs. The pigs were sorted by ancestry and blocked by weight with 13 pigs per pen and 4 pens per treatment. Treatments were corn-soybean meal-based with none, 10, 20, or 40% roller-milled corn (mean particle size of 3,549 μm). Particle size for the none, 10, 20, and 40% cracked corn diets were 684, 926, 979, and 1,187 μm, respectively. Feed and water were offered ad libitum until slaughter (average final BW of 121.6 kg) at a commercial facility.
Overall (d 0 to 63), increasing cracked corn from none to 40% had no effect on ADG (P > 0.98) and ADFI (P > 0.41), but F/G was numerically poorer (linear, P < 0.11). Adding cracked corn had no effect on hot carcass weight (P > 0.17) or backfat thickness (P > 0.69), but dressing percentage was decreased (linear effect, P < 0.05). For both stomach keratinization and ulcer scores, as the percentage of cracked corn increased, there was a decrease (linear, P < 0.009) in scores for ulcers and stomach keratinization (scale of 0 = none, 1 = mild, 2 = moderate, and 3 = severe), but even the worst treatment had an average lesion score of less than mild. It is concluded that increasing cracked corn from none to 40% of diets for finishing pigs did not affect rate of gain but worsened F/G and dressing percentage with only slight improvements in scores for stomach lesions.