The effects of spray-dried blood meal on growth performance of the early-weaned pig.

A total of 1,956 weanling pigs were used in five experiments to evaluate spray-dried blood meal (SDBM) in starter pig diets. In Exp. 1, 432 weanling pigs (initially 6.9 kg BW and 21 d of age) were used to evaluate different protein sources in the d 7 to 28 postweaning diet. Pigs were fed a control diet containing 5% select menhaden fish meal or diets with 3.88% spray-dried porcine plasma, 2.49% SDBM (porcine), 5.74% soy protein concentrate, 5.74% moist extruded soy protein concentrate, or L-lysine.HCl and DL-methionine replacing select menhaden fish meal on an ideal protein basis. Pigs fed diets containing the spray-dried blood products had higher (P < .06) mean ADG than pigs fed the other protein sources. In Exp. 2, 744 weanling pigs (initially 5.8 kg BW and 21 d of age) were used to determine the effects of 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5% SDBM (bovine) in the d 7 to 28 postweaning diet. Pigs fed increasing SDBM had greater (quadratic, P < .01) ADG and improved gain:feed ratio (G/F). Inflection point analysis projected optimum ADG and G/F at 1.9% SDBM. In Exp. 3, 216 weanling pigs (initially 10.9 kg BW and 42 d of age) were used to determine the effects of 0, .5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 2.5% SDBM (bovine) in the d 21 to 42 postweaning diet. Pigs fed increasing SDBM had decreased (linear, P < .05) ADG and G/F. In Exp. 4 and 5, 144 and 180 weanling pigs (initially 5.3 and 6.2 kg BW and 24 and 21 d of age, respectively) were used to evaluate either 2.5% spray-dried porcine, spray-dried bovine, or flash-dried bovine blood meal (Exp. 4) or 2.5% spray-dried bovine or spray-dried avian blood meal (Exp. 5). Pigs fed diets containing the spray-dried blood meals had improved ADG and G/F (P < .01) compared with pigs fed flash-dried blood meal. However, no differences (P > .10) were observed among treatments when pigs were fed spray-dried blood meals from different species. We conclude that spray-dried bovine, porcine, and avian blood meal are effective protein sources in starter pig diets (d 7 to 28 postweaning). However, SDBM is not necessary in the diets of older pigs (d 21 to 42 postweaning) for maximum growth performance.