A method for direct gastric feeding and the effect on voluntary ingestion in young swine.

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of direct administration of diet into the stomach on total alimentation (quantity consumed voluntarily plus the quantity administered by young pigs. Ten cross-bred pigs, 82 days of age, were assigned to five treatments (two replicates of five pigs) consisting of a control (C) and four gastric fistulated (GF) pigs. The GF pigs were fed daily via the fistula 0, 20, 40 and 60% of the dry matter consumed voluntarily by the control pigs (17h per day). Relative to the control pigs, the GF-0, GF-20, GF-40 and GF-60 pigs, respectively, ate 102.4, 99.9, 91.7 and 97.3% the quantity of diet and gained 116.7, 111.1, 113.0 and 114.8% body weight; thus, the surgery, device and procedures were not detrimental. Voluntary consumption was physiologically regulated rapidly with good precision to adjust for the gastric fistula administered diet. Correlation and regression analysis of daily voluntary ingestion (y) versus gastric administration (x) of the six GF-20, -40 and -60 pigs gave a correlation coefficient, r = -0.926 (P less than 0.01), and regression coefficient, b= -1.089 (0.10 greater than P greater than 0.05). The statistical coefficients indicate that voluntary ingestion was suppressed somewhat more than the quantity administered into the stomach.