Amino acid requirements for pig diets
These amino acids need to be added to feed, as pigs cannot synthesise them:
- lysine
- methionine
- tryptophan
- isoleucine
- histidine
- phenyalanine
- threonine
- leucine
- valine.
Grain-based diets usually do not have enough lysine, threonine, methionine, tryptophan and isoleucine. All 9 amino acids must be balanced for protein synthesis to occur.
The lowest level amino acid in pig feed compared to how much a pig needs is called the 'first-limiting' amino acid. Make sure you have enough of the limiting amino acid to get good pig growth.
In most Australian cereal-based diets, lysine is first-limiting.
Recommended lysine values
Items marked with an * are based on reactive lysine as an indicator of availability.
Common protein concentrates
| Protein concentrate | Recommended lysine value |
|---|---|
| Blood meal (ring-dried) | 95% |
| Cottonseed meal | 40% |
| Field pea meal (Pisum sativum) | 92% |
| Fish meal | 89% |
| Lupin seed meal (L. albus) | 50% |
| Meat meal and meat-and-bone meal | 70% |
| Peanut meal | 60% |
| Skim milk powder | 84% |
| Soybean meal | 88% |
| Sunflower meal | 60% |
| Canola* - cold press | 74% |
| Canola* - solvent extr. | 61% |
| Canola* - expeller | 63% |
Cereals
| Cereal | Recommended lysine value |
|---|---|
| Barley | 78% |
| Maize | 85% |
| Rye | 71% |
| Sorghum | 88% |
| Triticale | 85% |
| Wheat - sound | 85% |
| Wheat - weather-damage | 71% |