Effects of feeding wheat contaminated with wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) to growing pigs

In each of two growth trials, weanling pigs were individually housed and fed to study the effect of various amounts of wild radish (Raphanus raphanistrum) seed pods in the diet on performance of growing swine. For trial 1, 20 pigs averaging 19.6 kg live weight were divided into four comparable groups of five pigs each based on sex and initial weight and were assigned to fortified wheat-soybean meal diets with: (1) 0%, (2) 1.20%, (3) 3.25%, or (4) 4.95%, by weight, of wild radish seed pods. For trial 2, 15 pigs averaging 20.6 kg live weight were divided into three comparable groups based on sex and initial weight and assigned to fortified wheat-soybean meal diets with: (5) 0%, (6) 7.5%, or (7) 15% of wild radish seed pods. Average daily gains of pigs during the 60 d of trial 1 on all diets were similar (P greater than .05). However, wild radish contamination of the diet had a significant linear effect on feed conversion because the amount of feed required per unit of gain increased (P less than .01) in the amount of feed required to produce a unit of gain. There were no gross symptoms of toxicity in any pigs during the course of either trial or at maturity. Eighteen crossbred barrows averaging 24.8 kg were divided into three comparable groups of six pigs each and assigned to each of the three diets (5, 6 and 7) fed to growing pigs in trial 2, for a digestion and nitrogen balance trial.