TY - JOUR T1 - Effects of Dietary Protein Levels on Growth Performance and Feed Intake in Native Moo Lath Lao Pigs AU - Lindberg, J.E. AU - Phengsavanh, P. JO - Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances VL - 12 IS - 3 SP - 406 EP - 411 PY - 2013 DA - 2001/08/19 SN - 1680-5593 DO - javaa.2013.406.411 UR - https://makhillpublications.co/view-article.php?doi=javaa.2013.406.411 KW - Moo Lath pigs KW -protein level KW -growth performance KW -feed intake KW -daily gain KW -feed conversion ratio AB - Three growth experiments were conducted to determine practically applicable levels of Crude Protein (CP) for weaner (5.04±0.34 kg Body Weight; BW), grower (20.2±0.32 kg BW) and finisher (39.9±1.80 BW) native Moo Lath Lao pigs fed diets based on rice bran, maize and soybean meal without supplementation of synthetic amino acids. Each experiment used 30 individually penned pigs with 6 pigs per treatment. The dietary CP content (per kg DM) was 139, 161, 181, 203 and 222 g for weaner pigs, 111, 132, 148, 168 and 192 g for grower pigs and 89, 111, 132, 148 and 168 g for finisher pigs. Pigs were randomly allocated to one of five experimental dietary treatments according to a completely randomized design. Feed and water were offered ad libitum. All experiments were carried out under the same conditions and according to the same procedure. The results showed that final BW, average daily gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio did not improve above a dietary CP level (per kg DM) of 181 g for weaner pigs, 132 g for grower pigs and 111 g for finisher pigs. These levels of dietary CP content are lower compared with NRC recommendation for growing pigs of the same initial BW. This study has given a first indication of realistic target levels for CP in the diet for native Moo Lath pigs at different stages of growth. However, further studies are needed to establish more precise protein and amino acid requirements for native Lao pigs. ER -