Performance and digestibiliy of early weaned pigs receiving rice, corn grains or dark wheat flour

The effect of the utilization of corn grain, broked rice and dark wheat flour as starch source in raw or cooked form on performance, small intestine morphology and energy and nitrogen metabolism of piglets was evaluated. Seventy two piglets, weaned at 16 days of age, were located in 30 metabolism cages with 2 or 3 piglets. They received water and feed ad libitum and were kept in a thermoneutral environmental. Diets with dark wheat flour resulted in higher body weight and daily weight gain and a better feed: gain ratio than diets whit corn grain. Daily feed intake was not affect by starch sources. Cooked sources were not superior to raw sources in animal performance. Diets based on raw dark wheat flour and raw broken rice showed a higher gross profit at the end of feeding trial. These same diets showed a higher coefficient of apparent digestibility of dry matter and gross energy and a higher metabolizability of energy, than diets based on corn grain. The crude protein coefficient of apparent digestibility and the daily nitrogen retention were greater for diets based on dark wheat flour than for corn diets. These results can be partly explained by the greater crude protein and aminoacids levels of the diet with wheat. Neither villi height, nor cript depth were different of days 8, 16 and 22 of experiment, relative to the offered diets. Otherwise, villi height incresed significantly from day 8 to 16, while cript depth did not show significant change over this period (In portuguese)