Liquid serum from cheese as feeding supplement for growing pigs

Abstract

Seeking to evaluate the use of cheese whey on the growth of swine, liquid serum from cheese was used to substitute for 0%; 20% or 30% of the dry substance of the rations composed by corn and bran of soy with 15% of crude protein. Thirty two animals, males and females, of the crossbred Landrace x Large white, weighing initially 26.3 kg in average, were distributed to conform a 4x2 factorial experiment, treatments being four levels of substitution of the dry substance of the ration by whey of cheese supplied in liquid form, with four replications. The data had been submitted to an analysis of variance and test of polynomial regression. The swine fed with cheese whey didn´t present differences (p<0.05) in performance and carcass characteristics. The effect sex was significant (p<0.05) for the weight at 112 days. It was observed interaction (p<0.05) between levels of the whey of cheese x sex for daily average weight gain and alimentary conversion, with better performance for the females. The serum of liquid cheese can technically be recommended for growing swine.