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Effects of Feeding Frequency on Metabolism, Rate and Efficiency of Gain and on Carcass Quality of Pigs¹

Experimental Farm, Research Branch, Canada Department of Agriculture, Nappan, Nova Scotia

The effect of feeding pigs a 2000-g ration and 5000 ml water in one or 5 meals daily was determined by metabolism, growth and carcass quality measurements. In the first experiment, with 50-kg pigs, differences in digestibility coefficients due to increased feeding frequency were negligible. The efficiency of calorie conversion to fat and protein gain, derived from nitrogen and carbon balances, was about 49% for both groups of pigs. The more frequently fed pigs eliminated more fecal but less urinary water than the pigs fed once daily. The same restricted feeding regimens used for the caged pigs in experiment 1 were applied to individually penned, 60-kg pigs in the second experiment. A higher rate of gain by the pigs fed once daily was attributed to the effect of "fill" as evidenced by lighter carcass weights and smaller carcass gains. No significant difference between the 2 groups of pigs could be shown by any of the carcass measurements taken which included specific density.

Manuscript received 6 March 1964.