It
is also well documented that heavier pigs at weaning will
have increased life time growth rates (Mahan etal.,1998;
WolterandEllis,2001). The benefit a rising from increased
weaning age and weight may be explained by a more rapid
adaptation by the heavier pigs to solid diets due to their
more developed gastrointestinal tract (Pluske etal.,2003).
Weaning age and weaning weight advantage also positively predicted ADG and ADFI from weaning until 10
weeks of age,which is in accordance with our findings.
FCR from weaning until 10 weeks of age was only