Detailed Explanation of Foreign Pig Nutrient Requirements and Feeding Standards

  The NRC (United States) and ARC (United Kingdom) pig nutrient requirements and feeding standards are the two most influential pig feeding standards in the world, adopted or referenced by many countries and regions.

  United States NRC pig nutrient requirements: The National Research Council (NRC) of the United States has a Swine Nutrition Subcommittee, composed of 6 experts, specifically responsible for formulating and revising pig nutrient requirements. In 1994, the first edition of "Nutrient Requirements of Swine" was published, containing only 11 pages. Afterward, 7 more revisions were carried out, and in 1998 the ninth edition of the NRC pig nutrient requirements was published. The basic characteristics of this standard include the following aspects:

Image: live pig

  1. This standard is formulated on the basis of a corn-soybean meal type diet with ad libitum feeding of pigs.

  2. The recommended amounts were determined on the basis of extensive evaluation of relevant research literature from countries and regions around the world.

  3. The recommended amounts are minimum requirements, without a "safety margin," so the amounts supplied in application vary with specific conditions, usually higher than the recommended amounts.

  4. Except for available phosphorus and available niacin requirements, all other nutrients are total requirements of the diet.

  5. Although barrows, boars, and sows and other pigs of different sexes differ in protein and amino acid requirements, this standard still uses the same recommended amounts.

  6. The ninth edition proposed the concept of ideal protein and the optimal balance ratio among essential amino acids, and the amino acid requirements of pigs at each stage are calculated according to this ratio. The eighth edition did not formally propose the concept of ideal protein, and the requirements at each stage were calculated according to the requirements for the 20-35 kg stage.