Meta-analysis of the energy requirements in growing-finishing pigs and the impact of the optimized energy intake on growth performance

In this meta-analysis, we utilized data from 523 treatments across 112 studies to establish the relationship between daily digestible energy intake and body weight in growing-finishing pigs using three fitting models: Linear Mixed-Effects (LME), Bayesian Ridge Regression (BRR), and Random Forest Regression (RFR) models. After analysis, LME is the best fit model. Then we selected 16 healthy Duroc, Landrace and Yorkshire crossbred castrated male pigs with an average initial body weight of about 85 kg and randomly divided them into two groups. The Con group was allowed ad libitum feeding, while the Meta group was adopted restricted feeding with feed intake calculated using the LME model in meta-analysis. After 42 days, the pigs were slaughtered to weight internal organs and obtain serum for biochemical analysis and intestinal contents for 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to analyze the gut microbiota structure.