A B S T R A C T The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of particle size in pelleted diet on nutrient digestibility and growth performance… Click to show full abstract
A B S T R A C T The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of particle size in pelleted diet on nutrient digestibility and growth performance of weaning piglets. 352 uncastrated males, aged 28 to 63 d, were distributed in a randomized block design (initial weight) according to treatments. The experimental feeds were divided into two phases, pre-initial (28 to 42 d) and initial (43 to 63 d) and produced with different corn particle sizes ground in a hammer mill, which provided a geometric mean diameter (GMD) of 394 µm, 534 µm, 647 µm, and 695 µm respectively, to the pre-initial phase diets. In the initial phase the GMD were 587 µm, 625 µm, 798 µm, and 943 µm. All feeds were pelleted (pellet diameter 2.5 mm) and supplied ad libitum. After an analysis of variance (P
               
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