Effect of a compensatory growth feeding regime on performance and gross carcass characteristics in growing / finishing pigs

Compensatory (or ‘catch-up’) growth is an accelerated rate of weight gain in animals allowed ad libitum access to feed after a period of restricted feeding such that these animals reach the weight of those control animals fully fed (Critser et al., 1995). There are conflicting reports on the ability of pigs previously fed on a restricted basis to compensate completely in terms of performance and gross carcass characteristics once re-fed. The compensatory growth index (CDI) is calculated as the ratio of the difference between weight variation at the end of restricted and compensatory growth periods, respectively, relative to the variation at the end of the restricted growth period alone (Hornick et al., 2000) thereby indicating whether the animals have been able to compensate during the period of suggested catch up growth. The hypotheses of the trial reported were that animals re-fed following feed restriction would achieve the liveweights and gross carcass composition of a parallel control group fed ad libitum throughout.