Lecithin in swine diets: I. Weanling pigs.

One digestibility experiment (Exp. 1) and two growth experiments (Exp. 2 and 3) were conducted to evaluate the use of lecithin as an emulsifier of soy oil and(or) an energy source in a two-phase starter diet program. Phase 1 consisted of d 0 to 14 postweaning, and Phase 2 consisted of d 14 to 35 postweaning. Diets were based on corn, soybean meal, and 20% dried whey and contained a constant ME:lysine level. In Exp. 1 and 2, two levels of lecithin (0 and 2%) at two levels of soy oil (0 and 6%) were investigated. In both experiments, there was no interaction between lecithin and soy oil for any traits measured. In Exp. 1, the apparent digestibility of fat increased significantly with increased fat level in the diets. Addition of lecithin to diets improved (P < .05) nitrogen retention, and the addition of soy oil significantly improved apparent digestibility of DM, GE, fat, and CP. In Exp. 2, there was no significant effect of lecithin or soy oil on ADG. In Phase 2 and overall, the inclusion of lecithin and soy oil to diets significantly increased gain/feed but did not significantly improve gain/ME intake. In Exp. 3, pigs were fed diets containing 0, 1, 2, or 3% lecithin. The addition of lecithin to diets did not affect ADG, ADFI, gain/feed, or gain/ME intake during Phases 1, 2, or overall. These results fail to demonstrate that the addition of lecithin to diets for young pigs improves utilization of soy oil or growth performance.