Effect of Dietary Energy Level on Nutrient Utilization, Insulin-Like Growth Factor-I and Insulin-Like Growth Factor Binding Protein-3 in Plasma, Liver and Longissimus Dorsi Muscle in Growing-Finishing Pigs Using Soybean Oil As an Energy Source (Report‪)‬

INTRODUCTION Dietary energy is a key nutritional factor which influences growth and fattening of animals. Many studies have examined the effect of dietary energy level on protein and fat deposition of weaned piglets and young pigs. Van Lunen and Cole (1998) reported that pigs from 9.1 to 25.4 kg BW fed with high DE rations had higher ADG, N-retention rate and lipid deposition rate than pigs fed on low DE rations. In addition, many researchers have investigated the effect of dietary energy density on growth performance and carcass characteristics (Smith et al., 1999; Liu et al., 2007), and physical and/or chemical composition of the total body at slaughter (Quiniou and Noblet, 1997) in pigs. It is well established that increased energy supply can improve growth performance.