Randomized trial evaluates growth performance with varying phytase and phytate levels in nursery swine, suggesting nutrient digestibility improvements.
Key Points
This research investigates how different phytase concentrations and phytate levels affect nursery swine growth performance.
2,444 pigs were randomly assigned to 4 dietary treatments with dietary phytase concentrations of 765 or 3,060 FTU/kg and phytate concentrations of 0.27 or 0.31%.
The experiment lasted for 20 days, with 34 to 36 pigs per pen and 17 to 18 replications per treatment.
Pigs received a corn-soybean meal-based diet formulated with fixed nutrient levels.
Pigs fed higher phytase concentrations had greater average daily gain (ADG) of 0.050 kg/day compared to lower concentrations (P=0.050).
No significant differences in average daily feed intake (ADFI) or gain-to-feed ratio (G:F) were observed (P > 0.10).
Higher phytase concentration resulted in marginally heavier final body weight despite varying dietary phytate concentrations (P=0.090).