Abstract:
Proc. Aust. Soc. Anim. Prod. (1978) 12: 157 THE DIGESTION OF STARCH IN PIGS BETWEEN 4 AND 28 DAYS OF AGE JANE LEIBHOLZ* and I.B. COOKE* Becker, Ullrey and Terrill (1954) showed that when pigs were fed lactose or corn starch in their diets from 7 to 35 d of age they had similar weight gains but the pigs fed lactose had a superior feed conversion ratio. The amylase activity in the intestine and pancreas of new-born pigs is low, but it has been shown to increase rapidly to 28 d of age (Aumaitre 1972). The present experiment was designed to study the inclusion of wheat in the diet of pigs between 7 and 28 d of age. Sixty-four pigs were fed diets containing lactose, corn starch, extruded'wheat or wheat as the major dietary carbohydrate source in two experiments. The diets were fed - libitum in pelleted form and they all ad contained 27% crude protein from casein and wheat gluten and 4% fat. Two pigs fed the lactose diet and two pigs fed the wheat diet in Expt 2 were slaughtered at 28 d of age and the activity of some of the enzymes in the pancreas and intestines were measured. TABLE 1. Performance of pigs.*' The pigs fed the wheat diets gained less weight than those fed the lactose diets between 7 and 21 d of age. However, they had the highest weight gains between 21 and 28 d of age and over the whole period the differences in weight gain and feed conversion ratio were not significant. The enzyme levels in the intestines indicate that there is an adaptation of the enzymes to the diets the pigs are consuming. It may be concluded that wheat is a suitable source of carbohydrate in the diet of the pig between 7 and 28 d of age. AUMAITRE, A. (1972). World Rev. Anim. Prod. 8(3):54. BECKER, D.E., ULLREY, D.E. and TERRILL, SW. (T954). Archs Biochem. Biophys. Z 48:178. * Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Sydney, Camden, NSW 2570. 157.
