Triticale-based diets were fed to pigs in deep-bedded hoop barns for a swine feeding study. Finishing pigs (240 head) were used to evaluate the dietary effects of triticalebased diets. The experiment was a randomized complete block design. There were four blocks (two summer, two winter); each block had three dietary treatments, with two replications per treatment. Each replication consisted of a pen of ten pigs (five barrows and five gilts).

Addition of triticale up to 80% of the diets of finishing pigs greater than 160 pounds to market weight in deepbedded hoop barns, compared with a corn-soybean meal diet, resulted in pigs that weighed less, grew slower, needed more feed per unit of liveweight gain, had less backfat, and smaller loin eye areas. There was no difference in feed intake.

There may be several factors that led to these results. The variety of triticale used in the study is predominantly used for forage, not cereal grain. The authors believe the amino acid content of the triticale may have been overestimated. If this were true, the pigs would not have been provided adequate protein, resulting in slower growth and more feed required per unit of liveweight gain. The study will be repeated, using a different variety of triticale and a more complete amino acid analysis of the triticale.