MODELLING AND TESTING OF ENERGY-EFFICIENT PIG FEEDING STRATEGIES UNDER CONDITIONS OF LIMITED FEED RESOURCES

Abstract

The current global situation in livestock farming, which is driven by climate change, military conflicts, fluctuations in market prices for feed and so on, means that, under these circumstances, the issue of energy-efficient feeding is key to ensuring pig productivity, which explains the relevance of our research. Furthermore, wheat is one of the main cereal ingredients in pig diets; however, it is believed that a significant amount of wheat generally disrupts digestion due to the formation of a hyperviscous mass in the pigs’ stomachs, which calls into question the efficiency of using such quantities of wheat.
The aim of the study was to model and test elements of energy-saving pig feeding under conditions of limited feed resources, where certain feed ingredients are often in short supply whilst wheat, for example, is in surplus; hence the farm is forced to use wheat in over 60% of the compound feed formulation; therefore, it is necessary to scientifically substantiate, under current conditions, how this affects the productivity and health status of the main herd and young pigs of various ages.
This scientific and practical experiment was conducted in accordance with generally accepted methods in animal husbandry and pig farming in particular.
The use of a higher proportion of wheat in compound feed, provided that the key nutritional parameters of the diet remain balanced, had no adverse effect on the reproductive performance of sows and boars in the main herd. Increasing the proportion of wheat in the composition of compound feed for young pigs to 62.4% has a slight negative effect (merely a trend) on growth rate and feed conversion (the age at which the experimental group reached a live weight of 100 kg was slightly higher, at 165.7 days compared to 164.4 days in the control group) against a background of a trend towards improved meat characteristics in the experimental group (a reduction in backfat thickness at the level of the 6th–7th thoracic vertebrae to 13.16 mm in the experimental group compared with 14.90 mm in the control group), which to some extent may be desirable given the increased market requirements and demand for leaner pork.