ACTA VETERINARIA ET ZOOTECHNICA SINICA ›› 2019, Vol. 50 ›› Issue (9): 1832-1840.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2019.09.010

• ANIMAL NUTRITION AND FEEDS • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Effects of Valine Level in Low Protein Diets on Growth Performance, Carcass Traits and Meat Quality of Finishing Pigs

WANG Yubo, XU Doudou, HE Xin, DONG Bing, YIN Jingdong*   

  1. State Key Laboratory of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China
  • Received:2019-02-22 Online:2019-09-23 Published:2019-09-23

Abstract: This experiment aimed to investigate the effects of dietary valine level in low protein diets (protein levels were reduced by approximately 2 percentage points compared to the recommended level of NRC (2012)) on growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality of finishing pigs. Fifty-four Duroc×Landrace×Large White gilts with the body weight of (75.17±1.86) kg were assigned into 3 groups with 6 replicates per group and 3 gilts per replicate. The gilts in the 3 groups were fed diets containing 0.33% (low valine level, L-Val group), 0.48% (NRC recommended level of valine, N-Val group, as control group) or 0.65% (high valine level, H-Val group) standardized ileal digestible valine, respectively.The experiment lasted for 35 days. The growth performance, carcass traits and meat quality of finishing pigs were determined by corresponding methods. The results showed that:1) The average daily gain and average daily feed intake of finishing pigs in L-Val group were significantly reduced compared with control group (P<0.05); 2) Compared with the control group, the concentrations of serum total cholesterol, albumin, glucose, insulin activity and HOMA-IR in H-Val group were significantly decreased (P<0.05), and the concentrations of serum free fatty acid, total protein and insulin-like growth factor Ⅰ in L-Val group were significantly decreased (P<0.05); 3) With the increase of Val level, the carcass weight of pigs fed both L-Val and H-Val diets was significantly decreased (P<0.05), as dietary Val level increasing, the 10th rib fat thickness and intramuscular fat content were linear reduced (P<0.05), and there was a linear trend to increase fat-free lean index (P=0.06); 4) Compared with the control group, the shear force and marbling score significantly reduced in L-Val group(P<0.05), and the drip loss decreased linearly as Val level increasing (P<0.01). The results indicated that diets with low Val level reduced the average daily gain, carcass weight, shear force and marble score of finishing pigs, increased intramuscular fat content, the 10th rib fat thickness and drip loss, and had a negative impact on growth performance, carcass traits and water holding capacity. Diets with high Val level did not further improve growth performance, while improved carcass traits and meat quality, and enhanced insulin sensitivity.

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