Three hundred weanling pigs (initially 13.4 lb and 20 ± 2 d of age) were used in a 14-d growth assay to determine the effects of
irradiation processing of specialty protein
products on nursery pig performance. Overall,
irradiated of AP 920 and Peptide-Plus™
resulted in increased ADG compared to
nonirradiated products. Irradiation of
Peptide-Plus® improved feed efficiency
compared to its nonirradiated form. Also, ADG was greater for pigs fed diets containing
ProtiOne™ and DPS 30 and tended to increase with AP 920 compared to those fed the control diet. In addition, feed efficiency
was improved for pigs fed diets containing
ProtiOne™, DPS 30, Peptide-Plus™, and
spray-dried egg compared to those fed the
control diet. Therefore, adding specialty
protein products to diets in most cases improved growth performance, and irradiation
processing improved growth performance
with certain specialty protein products.
