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The use of drained peatlands as dairy grasslands leads to long-term organic matter losses, CO2 emissions and soil subsidence. It also yields grass with increased N and P contents compared to grass grown on mineral soils due to peat mineralisation, which often leads to greater farm surpluses of these elements. Growing Typha latifolia as a forage crop on rewetted peatlands (paludiculture) could reduce these issues. Therefore, the effects of harvest date and frequency on yield and nutritional value were studied in three experiments during the first growing season after establishment of two different T. latifolia plantations. T. latifolia produced 40-68 shoots m-2 and maximum dry matter (DM) yields of 9.81-10.89 Mg ha-1. Harvesting before flowering resulted in the highest nutritional value per kg DM, of 563-575 g in vitro digestible organic matter (IVDOM), 120-128 g crude protein (CP), 287-300 g crude fibre (CF) and 1.5 g P. Surprisingly, harvesting at intervals of three or six weeks resulted in similar cumulative DM yields (p = 0.190). Also, average nutritional values per kg DM, especially of biomass harvested at 3-week intervals, remained similar to a May yield of 466-591 g IVDOM, 103-134 g CP and 286-303 g CF. Growing T. latifolia fodder for inclusion in grass-based diets could reduce the environmental impacts of dairy farming on peat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objectives of the present experiment were to analyze the effects of two dietary CP levels on the growth performance and carcass characteristics taking into account the gender and crossbred pig type. The study was performed as a completely randomized design in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial arrangement, with factors being dietary CP level (176 vs. 156, 164 vs. 150, 150 vs. 133 g/kg CP for the starter, grower, and finisher diets, respectively), crossbred type (Tempo x Topigs 20 and Top Pi x Topigs 20, Topigs Norsvin), and gender (intact boars and gilts). Diets were supplemented with variable amounts of crystalline AA to maintain a constant standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys/NE ratio (0.96, 0.82, and 0.73 g/MJ for the starter, grower, and finisher diets, respectively) on an ideal protein basis. Three pigs of each gender and crossbred type were housed in the same pen, equipped with IVOG stations, and individual ad libitum feed intake was recorded daily. No interactions between CP level, crossbred type, and gender were observed. For the overall period (d 0 to d 105) pigs fed high-CP diets showed greater (P ≤ 0.001) carcass weight and dressing percentage (P ≤ 0.05). Pigs fed high-CP diets tended (P = 0.068) to have softer feces. Fast grower pigs showed greater ADFI, ADG, and FCR (P ≤ 0.001). Lean type pigs showed better results on slaughter traits. Boars showed greater ADFI and ADG (P ≤ 0.001) and lower FCR (P ≤ 0.001) than gilts. Gilts showed greater muscle (P ≤ 0.001) and back fat thickness (P ≤ 0.05) than boars. In conclusion, Tempo x Topigs 20 and Top Pi x Topigs 20 intact boars and gilts fed low-CP diets showed overall growth performance, meat percentage, carcass muscle, and back fat thickness similar to those of pigs fed high-CP diets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrolyzed porcine mucosal tissue (HPMT) is a potential protein source for postweaning diets; however, its AA bioavailability is not well known. Lysine bioavailability of HPMT was determined compared with acid casein (AC) by using a slope-ratio assay based on nitrogen retention (NR) as a response of standardized ileal digestible (SID) supplemental Lys (sLys) intake below requirements. Twenty-five weaned piglets were fed 5 diets supplying 70, 80, or 90% of the digestible Lys requirement. Dietary treatments were 0% sLys, 10% sLys from AC (sLysAC), 20% sLysAC, 10% sLys from HPMT (sLysHPMT), and 20% sLysHPMT. Diets were formulated to be isoenergetic, and other indispensable AA were formulated at least at 115% of the SID requirements. After 15 d of feeding the experimental diets, fecal samples and total urine were collected during 5 consecutive days. Apparent fecal nitrogen digestibilities and NR per piglet were determined, and a relationship between NR and sLysHPMT or sLysAC intake was fitted using a generalized linear model procedure. Feeding diets with an increasing Lys content below requirements did not significantly increase fecal and urinary N excretion but increased daily NR according to a linear relationship (P < 0.001): NR (g/d) = 7.57 (SE 0.28) + 2.51 (SE 0.36) x sLysAC + 2.92 (SE 0.39) x sLysHPMT. Relative Lys bioavailability of HPMT compared with AC was determined as 116% (SE 14.3). In conclusion, Lys bioavailability of HPMT is at least similar to the Lys bioavailability of AC at low dietary inclusion rates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digestibility of nutrients in pig diets is an important component of overall feed efficiency. Targeted improvement of digestibility is currently mainly achieved by optimization of pig diets, based on information generated from digestibility trials that aim to establish fecal digestibility coefficients of different nutrients across a variety of ingredients. Genetic selection for nutrient digestibility is hampered by shortage of data on individual digestibility, but might help to further improve efficiency of pork production. The present study aimed to estimate the repeatability of fecal digestibility in pigs, as a first step to judge the perspectives for a breeding approach of nutrient digestibility. To achieve this, data was accumulated across nine digestibility trials, containing 1150 digestibility records of 416 growing pigs, measured across the trials. The data was analyzed with a model estimating variances for trial, diet, common litter, and individual animal effect for digestibility of Dry Matter, Ash, Organic Matter, Crude Protein, Crude fat and Non-Starch Polysaccharides. The factors diet and trial together explained the majority of the phenotypic variance, due to the design of the trials. Within diet and trial, common litter and individual animal effect contributed 0–10% of the phenotypic variance. The repeatability estimates ranged from 7% for Ash to 16% for Crude Protein, which suggests there may be genetic variation between pigs in digestibility. In conclusion, the repeatability estimates indicate it is worthwhile to collect phenotypic data that enable the estimation of genetic parameters for digestibility, if these data can be obtained at reasonable cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paludiculture, the cultivation of crops on rewetted peatlands, is often proposed as a viable climate change mitigation option that reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe), while simultaneously providing novel agricultural business options. In West Europe, experiments are ongoing in using the paludicrop cattail (Typha spp.) as feedstock for insulation panel material. Here, we use a Dutch case study to investigate the environmental potential and economic viability of shifting the use of peat soils from grassland (for dairy production) to Typha paludiculture (for cultivation and insulation panel production). Using a life cycle assessment and cost-benefit analysis, we compared the global warming potential (GWP), yearly revenues and calculated Net Present Value (NPV) of 1 ha Dutch peat soil used either for dairy production or for Typha paludiculture. We estimated that changing to Typha paludiculture leads to a GWP reduction of ~32% (16.4 t CO 2 -eq ha -1 ), mainly because of lower emissions from peat decomposition as a result of land-use management (-21.6 t CO 2 -eq ha -1 ). If biogenic carbon storage is excluded, the avoided impact of conventional insulation material is insufficient to compensate the impact of cultivating and processing Typha (9.7 t CO 2 -eq ha -1 ); however, this changes if biogenic carbon storage is included (following PAS2050 guidelines). Typha paludiculture is currently not competitive with dairy production, mainly due to high cultivation costs and low revenues, which are both uncertain, and will likely improve as the system develops. Its NPV is negative, mainly due to high investment costs. This can be improved by introducing carbon credits, with carbon prices for Typha paludiculture (30 years) comparable to EU-ETS prices. In conclusion, Dutch Typha paludiculture has a significant climate change mitigation potential by reducing emissions from deep drained peatlands. Nevertheless, attention is needed to increase its economic viability as this is a key aspect of the system change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Pig-breeding businesses have resulted in global breeding programs that select pigs to perform well on high-energy high-protein diets, which are traditionally based on corn and soybean meal. Nowadays, there is a shift toward diets based on cereals and co-products, therefore, high dietary inclusion of co-products can modify the expected performance of these pigs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of feeding a cereals-alternative ingredients diet (CA-diet) compared to a corn-soybean meal diet (CS-diet) on the growth performance, feed efficiency, and carcass characteristics of genetically similar growing-finishing gilts and boars. In total, 160 pigs, 80 gilts and 80 boars, coming from 18 litters were used. The pigs were blocked based on litter, to ensure no genetic differences between the 2 treatments. For the starter phase, pigs fed the CA-diet performed in terms of growth, and feed efficiency, as good as the pigs fed CS-diet (P > 0.05). For the grower phase, pigs fed the CA-diet had the same ADFI (P > 0.05), but a lower daily energy intake (ADEI) (P < 0.001), and same growth performance (P > 0.05) than pig fed the CS-diet, therefore pigs fed the CA-diet were more efficient in terms of residual energy intake (REI) (P < 0.001). For the finisher phase, interaction between diet and sex had an effect on ADFI (P < 0.001), ADEI (P < 0.001), ADG (P = 0.010), and lipid deposition (Ld) (P = 0.016). Pigs fed the CA-diet were less efficient than pigs fed the CS-diet, i.e., G:F (P < 0.001), RFI (P < 0.001), and REI (P = 0.007). In general, feeding a CA-diet to pigs showed to improve the ratio between Pd and Ld, especially for boars. Also, pigs fed the CA-diet showed thinner back fat thickness (P < 0.001), same loin depth thickness (P > 0.05), but lower dressing percentage (P < 0.001), than pigs fed the CS-diet.