DeviGainPG A New Approach That Transforms Finishers
6th February 2014
Pigs must be supplied with adequate levels of protein to ensure growth and lean deposition. However it is not “protein” itself but the amount and proportion of amino acids in protein that is important.
Getting the amino acid level wrong or supply amino acids in a form that pigs cannot use effectively has a detrimental effect on animal performance. Work at AFBI Hillsborough showed a drop of 2.5% in growth rate and a deterioration of 3.5% in FCR when utilisable amino acids were reduced in finishing diets.
Hence the only option has been to keep crude protein levels relatively high in finisher diets. Protein utilisation in pigs is quite inefficient at only 40% with the other non-utilised protein being excreted as nitrogen. Therefore targeted protein nutrition delivers more efficient and sustainable animal production. Work carried out by Lenis1 suggests that for every 1% drop in CP in the diet, nitrogen excretion is reduced by 8.5%.
What is DeviGainPG?
Devenish Nutrition have created a unique concentrated protein which supplies amino acids in a targeted form which the pig can utilise more effectively. DeviGainPG has been developed using our exclusive technology behind the DevAmine Range.
By adding DeviGainPG to the diet, the protein in the diet is optimised therefore overall CP level can be reduced. This spares energy in the diet and hence promotes growth. In the series of trials outlined, CP has been dropped by 3 percentage points with the inclusion of 10kg of DeviGainPG.
What does 10kg DeviGainPG and a 3% drop in CP mean?
- Up to 5% improvement in growth rate2
- Up to 5% improvement in FCR3
- 80kg less soya per tonne of feed
- 17kg less soya per finishing pig
- Reduction of 100 tonnes of soya on a 250 sow unit
- 25% reduction in N excretion (in ammonia, urine and faeces)
- Up to 16% reduction in Green House Gas emissions4
The Evidence
A series of trials was carried out at UK research facilities and on commercial units across Ireland. The results of the eight trials are presented in Figures 1 and 2.
Trials covered a range of start weights from 30-60kg and on farm growth rates from 730g/d to 1050g/d. Hence results are representative of most finishing units.
Figure 1. FCR of pigs on Control and DeviGainPG diet
Figure 2. Growth rate of pigs on Control and DeviGainPG diets
The Economics
Taking an average across all of the trials completed, the financial impact is shown below.
*January 2014 Pig Prices
1 Lenis, N.P. and Jongbloed, A.W. (1999). New technologies in low pollution swine diets: Diet manipulation and use of synthetic amino acids, phytase and phase feeding for reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus excretion and ammonia emission. Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Science, 12: 305-327. 2&3 Data on file 4 Bell, J. Feed ration carbon emissions - provisional estimates. SAC Consulting (2013). Accredited by AgRE Calc© certified to BSI PAS 2050.