Visceral organ growth and threonine utilization and requirements in the segregated early-weaned piglet

This thesis is an investigation of the visceral organ growth and threonine (Thr) utilization and requirements in segregated early-weaned (SEW) piglets fed diets in which soybean meal (SBM) and corn provided the only sources of dietary proteins. The feeding of a SBM-based diet stimulated gastric and spleen growth but reduced hepatic growth and adversely affected small intestinal mucosal morphology in the early-weaned piglets. Feeding of the SBM-based diet increased total Thr requirement by 85% in the early-weaned piglet. An optimal dietary supplementation of 0.5% crystalline L-Thr, on as fed basis, improved the average daily gain and feed conversion by 57 and 64%, respectively. This optimal L-Thr supplementation also improved the small intestinal morphology and biosynthetic functions in the SEW piglet fed SBM-based diets.