The aim of this research was to study the effects of nutritional levels in ration for weaning pigs (28 to 70 days), considering feed intake (FI), weight gain (WG), feed conversion (FC) and live weight costs (LWC). The experiment was conducted at the Animal Science of the Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, from October to November/93. Twenty-eight days crossbred weaning pigs (Landrace x Largo White) were used. A total of 24 pigs was distributed in cages. A completely randomized experimental design was used, with 3 treatments, replicated 8 times. The treatments were: T1 - ration A (28 to 70 days old): T2 - ration A (28 to 42 days) and ration B (42 to 70 days); T3 - ration A (28 to 42 days , ration B (42 to 56 days) and ration C (56 to 70 days). The rations contained: 20, 18 and 16% of CP, 3240, 3250 and 3260kcal ME/kg, 0.79, 0.69 and 0.59% of Ca and 0.64, 0.59 and 0.49 of P, respectively for rations A, B and C. The results were: FI = 45.67, 46.19 and 45.49kg/animal; WG = 23.85, 23.62 and 22.69kg/animal; FC = 1.92, 1.96 and 2.00 and for LWC = 0.476, 0.457 and 0.456 US$/kg, respectively for treatments T1. T2 and T3. The analysis of variance did not show significam difference (P >0 .05) between treatments for none of the studied parameters. It was concluded, that performance of the pigs, in the period from 28 to 70 days, were not influenced by the tested nutritional levels.
performance; swine; weaning; cost; period
