Ahammad GS, Kim IH. 2024. Efficacy of decreasing levels of tryptophan relative to lysine on the performance and meat quality of finishing pigs. Korean Journal of Agricultural Science 51:1-8.
Korean Journal of Agricultural Science (Korean J. Agric. Sci.) 2024 March, Volume 51, Issue 1, pages 1-8. https://doi.org/10.7744/kjoas.510101
Received on 11 August 2023, Revised on 02 September 2023, Accepted on 27 September 2023, Published on 1 March 2024.
Golam Sagir Ahammad, In Ho Kim*
Department of Animal Resource and Science, Dankook University, Cheonan 31116, Korea
*Corresponding author: inhokim@dankook.ac.kr
We conducted this research to examine the reducing level of lysine : tryptophan ratios in the diet affected the performance and meat quality of finishing pigs. At the end of the experiment, 144 crossbred finishing pigs (Duroc × [Yorkshire × Landrace]) having an average body weight of 70.6 ± 3.9 kg were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments (9 replications, 4 pigs per pen). The pigs in the 4 treatments were fed diets with different lysine : tryptophan ratios, such as 1 : 0.175, 1 : 0.160, 1 : 0.145, and 1 : 0.130. In considering average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR), the ratio of tryptophan and lysine (Lys : Trp) did not show any significant effect (p > 0.05). Moreover, nutrient digestibility had no significant impact (p > 0.05). However, the decreasing level of tryptophan linearly decreased the back-fat thickness at overall period (p = 0.038) and reduced at week 5 (p = 0.007). Additionally, the lean meat percentage (LMP) showed a tendency to increase at initial (linear effect, p = 0.097) and increased at overall period (linear effect, p = 0.045). Therefore, we suggest that Lys : Trp ratio of 0.130 could enhance the meat quality in finishing pigs.
finishing pig, lysine, meat quality, performance, tryptophan
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Golam Sagir Ahammad, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4182-7763
In Ho Kim, https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6652-2504
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.