Replacement value of dried egg meal for skim milk powder in diets for young pigs

Abstract

The growth of piglets reared individually in pens over the age interval three to eight weeks was compared for isocaloric and isonitrogenous diets in which part or all of the skim milk powder component of the diet was replaced by dried egg meal. Other components common to all diets included wheat, soyabean meal and fish meal. The dried egg meal and skim milk powder in total comprised 55 per cent of the protein concentrate in each diet. The mean growth rates and feed conversion ratios of 360 g day-1 and 2.14 kg feed kg-1 in liveweight gain, respectively, did not differ significantly for any diet. In a further experiment with older pigs the digestible energy content of dried egg meal and skim milk powder was shown to be 6127 and 3907 kcal kg-1 of dry feed respectively.