Dietary maltodextrin levels for piglets weaned at 21 days/ Niveis de maltodextrina na dieta de leitoes desmamados aos 21 dias

The goal of this experiment was to find the best level of substitution of maltodextrin for lactose for pre-starter and starter rations, whether simple or complex, fed to piglets weaned at 21 days. One hundred and twenty piglets were used in a randomized block design, according to a 2 x 4 factorial (two diet types: simple or complex; and four levels of maltodextrin as a replacement for lactose: 0.0, 33.5, 66.5 and 100%). The daily feed intake (DFI), daily weight gain (DWG) and feed conversion (FC) were measured. No interaction between maltodextrin levels and diet type was observed. The piglets fed the complex diets showed higher DWG from 0 to 15 days post-weaning; better FC. No effect of maltodextrin levels on DWG and DFI was observed from 0 to 15 days or from 0 to 30 days; and FC from 0 to 15 days. Maltodextrin showed a quadratic effect (p = 0.006, [??] = 1.53 + 0.002287X + 0.000022[X.sup.2]) on FC from 0 to 30 days. Diets containing only maltodextrin in it composition provided the lowest cost of feed. The maltodextrin can fully replace lactose in diets, not affecting the performance of piglets weaned at 21 days.