This work aimed to determine the impacts of lowering dietary net energy (NE) density in two swine production systems that produce pigs with different carcass traits. To ensure that dietary lysine was not limiting growth, two studies were conducted in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement with NE and standardized ileal digestible lysine (SID Lys) as experimental factors. A total of 1248 pigs were used in each study, Pietrain (Exp. 1, males non-castrated) or Duroc (Exp. 2, males castrated) sired. Reducing NE resulted in a greater feed intake; however, this was not sufficient to reach the same NE intake. While in Exp. 1 a 3.2% lower NE intake did not impair average daily gain (ADG; p = 0.220), in Exp. 2 a 4.7% lower NE intake reduced ADG by 1.4% (p = 0.027). Furthermore, this effect on ADG entailed a reduced ham fat thickness (p = 0.004) of the first marketed pigs. Increasing SID Lys only had a positive effect in Exp. 1, but no significant interaction between NE and SID Lys was reported (p ≥ 0.100). Therefore, dietary NE can be reduced without impairing growth performance when pigs can increase feed intake sufficiently, and thus, limit energy deficiencies.
Keywords: castration; energy; finishing pig; growing pig; lysine.