Evaluation of Anchovy Fish Meal and Fish Solubles Compared with Other Specialty Protein Sources on Nursery Pig Performance

Abstract A total of 330 pigs (DNA 600 × 241, initially 4.9 ± 0.2 kg, 19 d old) were used to evaluate anchovy fish meal and fish solubles compared with other specialty protein sources on nursery pig growth performance and fecal dry matter (DM). At weaning, pigs were allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments with 4 or 5 pigs per pen and 12 replications per treatment in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments consisted of different protein sources added based on relative SID Lys content and included: 1) enzymatically treated soybean meal (ESBM, HP 300, Hamlet Protein, Findlay, OH) at 7.0% of the diet; 2) spray-dried bovine plasma (SDBP, APC Corp, Ankeny, IA) at 3.5% of the diet; 3) fermented soybean meal (ME-PRO, Prairie Aquatech, Brookings, SD) at 5.0% of the diet; 4) fermented soybean meal enriched with 6.5% fish solubles (TASA, Lima, Peru) at 5.21% of the diet; 5) fish meal (TASA Prime meal, TASA, Lima, Peru) at 4.85% of the diet; and 6) fish meal enriched with 6.5% fish solubles (TASA Swine, TASA, Lima, Peru) at 5.05% of the diet. All diets contained the same conventional soybean meal level within phase. Treatment diets were fed in 2 phases, d 0 to 12 and d 12 to 25, for phase 1 and 2, respectively. Following phase 2, all pigs were fed a common diet for an additional 15 d. Although there was a 5 to 7% improvement in ADG for pigs fed spray-dried bovine plasma and fish meal with solubles, there were no significant differences in growth performance (P > 0.10) between treatments for any period or overall (Table). There was a treatment × day interaction (P = 0.003) for fecal dry matter largely driven by the increase in fecal DM for pigs fed spray-dried bovine plasma from d 12 to 25. On d 12, there were no differences between treatments for fecal DM (P > 0.10); however, on d 25, pigs fed spray-dried bovine plasma had improved (P = 0.017) fecal DM compared with pigs fed enzymatically treated soybean meal with all other treatments intermediate. In summary, anchovy fish meal with or without fish solubles can be utilized in nursery pig diets without decreasing growth performance.