167 Effects of L-lys Hcl and Distillers Dried Grains Inclusion Rate on Growth Performance of Finishing Pigs

Abstract An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of L-Lys HCl inclusion in diets with or without distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) on growth performance of finishing pigs. A total of 2,414 pigs (initial BW = 92.7 kg) were used in a 34-d trial. Treatments were arranged as a 2 × 3 factorial treatment structure with two levels of DDGS (0 or 10%) and three levels of L-Lys HCl (0.2, 0.3, or 0.4%). Diets were corn and soybean meal-based and were formulated to be isocaloric (NE = 2,668 kcal/kg) and isolysinic (0.75% SID Lys) by adjusting the inclusion of soybean meal, crystalline amino acids, and choice white grease. All other nutrient levels met or exceeded the NRC (2012) requirement estimates. There were 16 replicates per treatment. Pigs were weighed and feed disappearance measured to calculate ADG, ADFI, and G:F. Data was analyzed with SAS MIXED procedure. There was no evidence (P > 0.10) for interactive effects between L-Lys HCl and DDGS inclusion rate. Pigs fed diets with 10% DDGS had improved (P = 0.002) G:F, but there was no evidence (P > 0.10) for differences in ADG or ADFI. Pigs fed increasing levels of L-Lys HCl had higher (linear, P = 0.026) ADFI, decreased (quadratic, P = 0.013) G:F, and a tendency for quadratic response (P = 0.063) in ADG, overall with the poorest performance observed for pigs fed the diet with 0.4% L-Lys HCl. In conclusion, pigs fed 0 or 10% DDGS presented similar performance; however, pigs fed the high level of L-Lys HCl presented decreased performance.