Effect of immunocastration on the individual amino acid requirements of high potential male pigs

• Grant number: 24/17596-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: January 31, 2025
• End date: July 30, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Animal Nutrition and Feeding
• Principal Investigator: Luciano Hauschild
• Grantee: Anderson Borba
• Supervisor: Daniel Columbus
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: University of Saskatchewan (USASK), Canada
• Associated to the scholarship: 24/03581-9 - Estimates of growth curves, body composition and lysine requirement for pigs with high genetic potential, BP.MS

Abstract

Lysine pig requirements are influenced by age, sex, genetics, health status, among others. Sexual category is also an important factor in the variability of responses, since immunocastrated animals change their tissue deposition dynamics. In this therefore important to evaluate individual nutritional estimates before and after immunocastration in male pigs with high genetic potential. Therefore, this project aims to deepen the trial previously proposed to FAPESP (Process nº 2024/03581-9), conducting different approaches to estimate individual nutritional requirements, and interpreting and discussing the results in collaboration with an international research group. In the initial project, we aimed to estimate intake and growth curves, body composition and lysine requirements for growing and finishing pigs for a strain with high genetic potential using dose-response and factorial methods. Now, this international collaboration project with the University of Saskatchewan seeks to explore to which immunocastration affects the variability of responses in animals and their estimation of nutritional requirements. Growing and finishing whole male pigs were fed nutritional requirements for lysine considering the animal 80 of the population. The search for new nutritional strategies to increase nutrient utilization efficiency in modern pigs is of productive, economic and environmental importance. In addition, the internship period will allow the master's student to interact with an internationally recognized research group specialized in the field of study, apply this knowledge to UNESP-FCAV and improve their professional skills.