Beneficial effects of a decreased meal frequency on nutrient utilization, secretion of luteinizing hormones and ovarian follicular development in gilts

Table 5 Effects of meal frequency on the nitrogen balance in gilts^1,2,3

Items	T1	T2	T6	P-value
Nitrogen balance, g/d
Intake	70.04	70.04	70.04	1.00
Fecal excretion	6.29 ± 0.93	7.68 ± 0.88	8.50 ± 1.59	0.408
Urine excretion	24.09 ± 0.99^a	32.02 ± 2.14^b	32.26 ± 3.32^b	0.027
Absorbed N	63.74 ± 0.93	62.36 ± 0.88	61.54 ± 1.59	0.408
Retained N	39.08 ± 1.50^a	30.34 ± 2.55^b	29.27 ± 3.94^b	0.040
N net utilization, %⁴	55.80 ± 2.14^a	43.32 ± 3.64^b	41.80 ± 5.63^b	0.039
N digestibility, %	91.01 ± 1.33	89.04 ± 1.26	91.75 ± 1.31	0.189
Retention ratio, %⁵	61.31 ± 2.16^a	48.46 ± 3.80^b	47.20 ± 5.83^b	0.044

¹Results are presented as means ± SEMs. n = 8
²T1 means gilts fed one meal per day, T2 means gilts fed two meals per day, and T6 means gilts fed six meals per day
³Different letters ^{a, b} denote P < 0.05
⁴N net utilization, % = N retained/N intake × 100
⁵Retention ratio, % = N retained/N absorbed × 100

ISSN: 2049-1891