LECITHIN IN SWINE DIETS .2. GROWING-FINISHING PIGS

Lecithin was investigated in diets for growing-finishing pigs. Diets w ere based on com and soybean meal and contained a constant ME:lysine l evel. The use of lecithin as an emulsifier on utilization of soy oil b y the pig was investigated in Exp. 1. Diets were arranged in a 2 x 2 f actorial structure with two levels of lecithin (0 and 2%) and two leve ls of soy oil (0 and 6%). There were no interactions between lecithin and soy oil for any measurements of growth performance. In general, th e inclusion of lecithin or soy oil did not affect (P > . 1) ADG but di d improve (P < .01) gain/feed during the finishing period and during t he entire experiment. During the finishing period, gain/ME intake was improved (P < .01) by both lecithin and soy oil. The use of lecithin a s an energy source for pigs was investigated in Exp. 2. Dietary treatm ents were corn and soybean meal diets with 0, 1, 2, or 3% lecithin. Th ere were no significant differences in performance of pigs as measured by ADG, ADFI, gain/feed, and gain/ME intake among the four lecithin l evels. Lecithin did not improve utilization of soy oil by growing-fini shing pigs. Furthermore, lecithin was not an efficacious source of sup plemental dietary fat for growing-finishing pigs in this study.