Effect of Particle Size of Wheat on Performance of Nursery, Growing and Finishing Pigs

Abstract

Soft red winter wheat was used in starter, growing and finishing swine diets to study the effect of particle size of ground grain on rate of gain and feed:gain ratio. A corn (control) diet was used in some trials. Daily gain and feed :gain ratio by nursery pigs were not significantly different between corn and fine a0d coarse wheat starter diets in two nursery trials. In a trial including both the growing and finishing phases, gains and feed:gain ratio by pigs during early growth up to 55 kg were not different on corn vs fine, medium or coarse wheat diets, but the pigs fed coarse wheat grew faster and required less feed per unit of gain (P < .05) than those fed the fine or medium wheat diets during finishing from 55 to 100 kg. In a growing pig study from 16 to 50 kg BW, the coarse wheat diet supported less gain (P < .05) than the corn diet and a higher (P < .05) feed:gain ratio than the fine wheat diet. In contrast , in finishing trials, coarser wheat supported faster gains (P < .05) and 6% improved feed conversion than fine wheat or corn diets. The conclusions from this research were that daily gains were not different between starting and growing diets with smaller or larger wheat particles, but that the wheat of larger particle size supported faster gains by finishing diets. Although wheat particle size had no significant influence on feed:gain ratio by nursery pigs, a smaller particle improved feed conversion by growing pigs, whereas a larger particle size was superior in finishing diets. (