Improved Response to Ractopamine in Finisher Gilts as Dietary Lysine is Increased

摘要

Ractopamine (RAC; Paylean, Elanco Animal Health, West Ryde, NSW) is a (3-agonist that, when included in the diet for the last four weeks pre-slaughter, increases protein deposition and average daily gain (ADG), and improves feed conversion ratio (FCR;Dunshea et al., 2005). Since a major effect of RAC is to increase protein deposition, it is important that the supply of essential amino acids in the diet is sufficient to meet this additional requirement. The accepted commercial recommendation for diets containing RAC in Australia is 0.56 g available lysine (Av Lys)/MJ digestible energy (DE). The hypothesis for this experiment was that the inclusion of RAC in the diet of finisher gilts will enhance performance and the level of lysine required to support maximum performance.