Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

F. Lettner, W Wetscherek and S. Bickel:

Meat meal for growing-finishing pigs

Summary

60 pigs, fed individually, were raised from 30 to 110 kg body weight in a fattening trial to investigate the use of meat meal. 15 animals were allocated to each of the four groups. Group 1 (control group) was fed a commercially available complete feed that contained no meat meal. During the first fattening period, 12 % meat meal were used to replace soybean meal in the feed for group 2, 3 and 4, and during the second fattening period 10 %. In groups 2 and 4, the content of ileum-digestible lysine, methionine and cystine, threonine and tryptophane was balanced according to the content of the control group's diet through the addition of synthetic amino acids. In group 3, only lysine as well as methionine and cystine were adjusted. The investigation criteria were fattening and slaughter performance, and the quality of meat and fat. Group 4 demonstrated the highest fattening performance, groups 2 and 1 showed equal results and group 3's performance was worst. There were no differences between the groups in all other parameters. It is concluded that the inclusion of up to 12 % meat meal to a complete fattening diet for pigs is possible, as long as the diet is balanced for the most important essential amino acids based on the ileum digestibility. Key words: meat meal, pig fattening, fattening performance, carcass characteristics, meat and fat quality.