Field peas in swine diets
SOUTH DAKOTA - Field peas make an excellent feed for swine, a South Dakota State University researcher said.Hans Stein, a swine nutritionist and associate professor in SDSU's Department of Animal and Range Sciences, said 11 SDSU experiments over the past five years are the main nutrition studies that have been done so far using field peas in swine diets.
Though field peas historically have been used as human food, production has increased so much that they're increasingly being used in animal diets. Currently selling for about $3 a bushel, field peas can make an economical feed even for producers who don't grow them, Stein said.
“We've looked at the digestibility of the nutrients in field peas. We've found that all the amino acids are digested pretty much to the same degree as they are in soybean meal,“ Stein said.
“We've found that the energy concentration in field peas is similar to what you find in corn. And we've found that phosphorus is digested far better than in corn and soybean meal.“
SDSU also tested inclusion rates. “Initially we went up to 36 percent in diets for growing and finishing pigs without seeing any problems. We had performance that was absolutely similar to what we found on a corn/soybean diet.“
Source: Farm and Ranch Guide
9 February 2006
2 minute read
