Corn, Wheat, Milo and Barley with Soybean Meal or Roasted Soybeans and Their Effect on Feedlot Performance, Carcass Traits and Pork Acceptability

Feedlot performance, carcass traits and the acceptability of fresh and stored pork samples were monitored on three replicates of pigs fed diets based on corn, wheat, milo or barley with soybean meal or roasted whole soybeans as the supplemental protein. The corn-based diets contained 16% crude protein for pigs weighing 21 to 57 kg and 14% crude protein from 57 to 101 kilograms. The other respective diets were formulated by substituting either wheat, milo or barley on a unit-for-unit basis for corn. Over the entire experimental period (21 to 101 kg), all treatments except barley-soybean meal promoted similar (P>.05) daily gains. Three significantly different (P<.05) groupings of treatments based on efficiencies of feed conversion were noted, which, ranked from most to least acceptable, were: corn and wheat containing either protein source; barley-roasted soybeans; and milo with either protein or barley-soybean meal. Data were also presented which indicated feedlot response to each treatment during both the growing and the finishing phases of production.