The effect of supplementation of liquid and crystalline lysine to barley-distillers solids diet on the performance and carcass quality of pigs

The response to dietary lysine of liquid or crystalline form was examined in pigs fed on cereal protein dietsover the range of live weight from 25.0 to 95.0 kg. Forty individually fed growing pigs (20 gilts and 20castrated males) were allocated to four isonitrogenous diets consisting of barley, undehydrated distillers solids and a mixture of minerals and vitamins with lysine supplementation of 0.9 or 3.2 g pure lysine per kg DM in liquid or crystalline form to provide 7.1 or 9.1 g/FU total lysine, respectively. The pigs were given feed on a restricted scale twice daily. A high level of lysine supplementation significantly increased the growth rate and improved the feed conversion efficiency (