Table 3.
Performance of weaned piglets fed a control diet without ergot or diets adjusted to a total ergot alkaloid content of 8.4 mg/kg diet (Ergot 5-low; Ergot 15-low) or 16.8 mg/kg diet (Ergot 5-high; Ergot 15-high) (n = 4 pens per treatment with two male and two female piglets in each pen).
| Diet | Feed intake (g/d) | Live weight gain (g/d) | Feed to gain ratio (g/g) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| day 1–7 | day 1–21 | day 1–35 | day 1–7 | day 1–21 | day 1–35 | day 1–7 | day 1–21 | day 1–35 | |
| Control | 276 a | 425 a | 586 a | 231 a | 335 a | 437 a | 1.20 a | 1.28 | 1.33 a |
| Ergot 5-low | 230 ab | 315 b | 446 b | 118 b | 203 b | 313 b | 2.06 ab | 1.60 | 1.44 ab |
| Ergot 5-high | 204 b | 289 b | 385 b | 56 b | 166 b | 238 b | 4.51 b | 1.89 | 1.63 b |
| Ergot 15-low | 193 b | 306 b | 424 b | 86 b | 200 b | 286 b | 2.50 ab | 1.54 | 1.49 ab |
| Ergot 15-high | 209 b | 321 b | 449 b | 96 b | 212 b | 304b | 2.30 ab | 1.51 | 1.48 ab |
| ANOVA (p-values) | |||||||||
| Diet | 0.002 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | <0.001 | 0.034 | 0.149 | 0.023 |
| Sex 1 | - | - | - | 0.397 | 0.683 | 0.579 | - | - | - |
| Diet × sex | - | - | - | 0.271 | 0.438 | 0.735 | - | - | - |
| PSEM | 12 | 15 | 17 | 28 | 36 | 41 | 0.65 | 0.15 | 0.05 |
Abbreviations: PSEM = pooled standard error of means; 1 Sex: Female/male; ab Values with no common superscripts are significantly different within columns (p < 0.05).