Nutrition management of growing pigs

Nutritional management of pigs to optimise growth demands pig-specific, time-specific and place-specific determination and provision of nutritional requirement. These elements need to be incorporated into response prediction models that operate in a real-time (not retrospective) closed-loop control environment. This implies appropriate means for the on-line measurement of response to change in nutrient provision, and the simultaneous means for manipulation of feeding level and feed quality. The paper describes how response prediction modelling and response measurement may now be achieved. Optimisation may be pursued with mixed objectives, including those of production efficiency and environmental protection. Introduction; managing the nutritional environment The potential benefits of optimising pig response to nutrients by the targeting of specific production objectives rather than the satisfaction of generalised ‘nutrient requirements ’ were proposed by Whittemore and Elsley (1974), and recently reaffirmed by Jean dit Bailleul et al., (2000). Both reports differentiate between biological and economic performance, and place the understanding of nutrient dispositioning at the centre of any ability to optimise production response