PSXVI-23 Effects on nursery pig growth performance and economics of protease inclusion in feeds with and without matrix contribution.

Feed ingredient prices and markets competitiveness prompt animal nutritionists to modulate nutrients density of diets in order to control feed cost. By improving raw material digestibility, protease enzyme is an interesting tool to reduce costs and secure animal performance. This trial aimed to demonstrate usefulness of protease enzyme in piglets feeds by using it either on top or according to its matrix of valorization. A 42d pen study was conducted using 360 pigs (PIC) with an initial body weight (BW) of 6.15 kg equally distributed in 36 pens with 12 replications fed one of the following three treatments: CTRL) Control diet with ME of 3502/3386/3367 kcal/kg, Crude protein (CP) of 22.9/21.9/20.7 % for phases I (d0-7), II (d7-21), III (d21-42) respectively; OT) CTRL diet + 125 g/t Jefo Protease (Jefo, Canada) supplemented “On Top”; MT) CTRL diet reformulated to incorporate 125 g/t Jefo Protease according to its matrix of valorization. Data were subjected to statistical analyses of variance as a randomized complete block design. Differences among treatment means were determined with level of significance at P<0.05. Overall, pigs fed with protease on top (OT diets) showed significant (P<0.05) improvement on feed/gain (FG) with 1.273 versus 1.301 for CTRL. Pigs fed MT diets achieved similar growth performance to pigs fed CTRL diets but with cheaper feeds resulting in higher income over feed cost by comparison to pigs fed with CTRL diets ($42.87 vs $42.73 USD). In this trial, protease use with its matrix in a commercial pelleted diet accordingly reformulated in CP, AA and energy demonstrated potential to maintain BW and FG of pigs up to the level of classic diet and to allow economic savings on incomes over feed costs.