Effect of Partial Substitution of Dietary Spray-Dried Porcine Plasma Or Fishmeal with Soybean and Shrimp Protein Hydrolysate on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestibility and Serum Biochemical Parameters of Weanling Piglets (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Newly weaned pigs normally have a depressed feed intake and reduced growth rate (Leibbrandt et al., 1975). Special diets and management schemes have been developed to overcome nutritional problems associated with weaning. A number of studies (Liu et al., 2001; Bikker et al., 2004) have indicated that spray dried porcine protein (SDPP) is an excellent animal protein source which promotes growth performance in weanling piglets. The improved performance in weaned pigs could be due to the immunoglobulin in SDPP which may improve health of the piglets (Godfredson-Kisic and Johnson, 1997). Fish meal is widely used in the diets of young pigs as a relatively inexpensive source of readily digestible, high quality protein. The amino acid profile of fish meal protein is similar to that of the proteins in the sow's milk and in piglet body tissue (Fowler, 1997). Furthermore, fish meal is more easily hydrolyzed into oligo-peptides in the gastrointestinal tract of poultry which allows for easy absorption (Wang et al., 2004).