| dc.description.abstract | Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of a nutritional water supplement and threonine to lysine ratios on growth performance of nursery pigs. Two experiments were conducted to understand the effects of a nutritional water supplement on growth performance in pigs which contains a blend of organic acids, probiotics, flavorings, and yeast. The first experiment used 140 pigs and treatment levels of the supplement were 0 and 62.5 ml/L water in a stock solution provided on d 0 – 3 through the water post-weaning. The piglets were fed vegetarian diets containing no lactose or plasma. Supplementation tended to increase ADG and ADFI from d 21 – 42. Growth performance and BW tended to improve overall with numerical differences in ADG and ADFI. In the second experiment, 260 piglets were fed a complex nursery diet, but were provided four levels of the nutritional water supplement used in experiment 1. These treatments were titrated within the water for 0 – 7 d post-weaning and consisted of 0, 31.7, 63.4, and 95.1 ml WB/L of water in a stock solution. Supplementation significantly improved ADWI for d 0 – 21, 21 – 42, and for the overall period. There were no differences in ADG. Feed intake decreased for d 21 – 42, and tended to decrease overall. Feed conversion improved for d 21 – 42, and overall. In addition to a nutritional water supplement, two experiments were conducted to determine the effects of threonine to lysine ratios on growth performance of nursery piglets. With increasing threonine to lysine ratios, there was a tendency to quadratically improvement final BW, and numerical improvements for the other phases. Additionally, there was a tendency to improve ADG and ADFI during the first 21 d post-weaning. Average daily gain tended to improve between d 21- 42, and for the overall period (d 0 – 42). Feed intake tended to decrease during d 0 – 21, but significantly increased for d 21 – 42. There were numerical improvements in G:F. Therefore, supplementation of a nutritional water supplement can improve ADWI and G:F. Additionally, increasing threonine in the diet can promote increases in growth performance. | |
