| ABSTRACT: This study was carried out to determine the combining effects of feeding up to 15 mg kg−1 ractopamine (RAC) to physically castrated (PC) pigs or those injected with an anti-GnRF vaccine (IC), on growth performance during suckling, weaning, growing and finishing phases. Out of a total of 1,160 male piglets, 50 % were surgically castrated at age 7, while 50 % underwent immunization against GnRF on the 103rd and 136th day of life. A completely randomized design, with two treatments (PC and IC), was used from the 1st until the 60th day of life. Afterwards, 792 animals, PC and IC, selected according to overall average weight (23.3 ± 0.69 kg) were allotted based on a completely randomized block design with a 2 × 4 factorial arrangement of treatments... |
