Duration: 10/01/2004 to 09/30/2009

Administrative Advisor(s):

NIFA Reps:

Non-Technical Summary

Statement of Issues and Justification

The NCR-42 Committee on Swine Nutrition has conducted cooperative research for over 40 years that has provided answers to specific practical issues dealing with swine nutrition that individual stations would not likely have been able to accomplish alone. One of the principle advantages of these combined activities is to use similar experimental designs, diet formulations, and experimental protocols so that these normally confounding factors can be incorporated into the experiment and subsequent interpretations drawn. The research published by the NCR-42 Committee clearly represents a multi-state approach that has resulted in a scientifically productive effort by the members to provide sound nutritional recommendations to the swine industry.

With the potential development and use of new technologies in the swine industry in the next century (improved genetic lines, nutrition-environment interrelationships, metabolic modifiers, etc.), specific questions relating to nutritional requirements will need to be answered more rapidly, with more validity, and with broader implications by a cooperative, multi-state effort than by individual stations working independently.

The NCR-42 Committee historically has functioned in a different manner than other multi-state committees. Unlike most multi-state committees, NCR-42 projects are developed on a continuing basis rather than completely at the outset of the approval process. This allows the committee to respond promptly to issues as they emerge. The evidence is that this approach has contributed to a large quantity of quality, robust, timely research.

Members of the Committee maintain close ties to the swine and feed industries and are keenly aware of basic and applied questions that need to be answered. Representatives from these industries participate in our annual meeting to keep the Committee informed on high-priority areas of swine nutrition that are researchable on a multi-state basis. In addition, representatives from this Committee participate in the annual meeting of the Swine Nutrition Council of the American Feed Industry Association to exchange information on high priority research needs.

Many of the research studies of the NCR-42 Committee would not have been possible had they not been conducted in such a way that allowed for pooling of data among stations that produced meaningful results. For example, sow reproductive data are extremely variable and large numbers of animals are needed to detect real treatment effects. Most stations working independently could not have researched important issues due to limited numbers of animals. This type of research approach done on a multi-state basis produces results that have broad inferences across many environmental and management conditions.

The NRC-42 Committee has a history of addressing important researchable problems relating to swine nutrition and has an excellent record with respect to publishing their research in the scientific literature. The Committee has published 18 refereed journal papers in the Journal of Animal Science and presented 30 abstracts at sectional or national meetings of the American Society of Animal Science during its 40-year career. In addition, Committee members have written two editions of a comprehensive textbook entitled Swine Nutrition.

Objectives

Procedures and Activities

Expected Outcomes and Impacts

Projected Participation

View Appendix E: Participation

Educational Plan

The NCR-42 Committee consists of prominent swine nutritionists from the North Central Region along with a few surrounding states and has been in existence since the early 1960's. It has been involved in cooperative research for nearly 45 years and is recognized as one of the most effective regional committees of its kind. The committee meets annually in January to plan experiments with a common protocol, present research results from such experiments conducted during the previous year, review publications in progress written by the committee, and share pertinent information regarding swine nutrition.

In addition to the annual meeting, three subcommittees meet and function during the year to develop initial protocols. The subcommittees are: 1) wean/grow/finish, 2) sow, and 3) nutrient digestion/metabolism. The general objective of each subcommittee is to investigate those industry concerns involving the nutritional problems of the various phases of swine production. Subcommittees meet annually to develop plans for their respective area. Ideas are solicited from the entire committee and reviewed by the subcommittee, generally prior to the annual meeting, and project proposals are developed for presentation at the annual meeting. The entire body of members vote to collectively conduct an agreed-upon protocol to answer those questions at the annual meeting. The experiments to be conducted use the same design and protocol but under differing experimental facility and environmental conditions. The composited replicates from this procedure allows the use of large number of animals and replicates such that the results can be more widely applied than if the study was conducted at one site. All members of the NCR-42 committee are asked to participate in approved NCR-42 projects within a proposed time frame. The general objectives of each subcommittee are as follows:

Wean/grow/finish. The committee plans experiments using standardized protocols such that large numbers of animals can be used to investigate areas of nutritional concern in these three swine production phases.

Sow. Sow nutrition experiments have historically been conducted using low sow numbers and inadequate number of replicates which poses problems with interpretation of data. The experiments planned and conducted by the committee using a large number of sows generally eliminate those concerns. The sow committee investigates those nutritional areas that are of concern to the swine and feed industry such that valid conclusions can be made.

Nutrient Digestion/Metabolism. The nutrient content and nutrient digestibility of feed ingredients and premixes vary by source. To ensure that diets contain adequate amounts of digestible nutrients and that the amounts of nutrients being excreted from growing and reproducing swine are minimized, precise estimates of nutrient digestibility coefficients are needed. The committee plans to cooperatively conduct digestibility and metabolism studies using a common set of protocols.

Organization/Governance

The governance includes a Chair, a Chair-elect, and a Secretary all of whom serve for 1-year terms. A Secretary is elected each year and that person moves to Chair-elect the following year, then to Chair the next year. Administrative guidance is provided by an Administrative Advisor and a CSREES Representative.

Literature Cited

None

Attachments

Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

AR, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, NC, NE, NY, OH, OK, TX, WI

Non Land Grant Participating States/Institutions

National Pork Board, USDA-ARS, USDA-ARS/Iowa