We are sure you have heard of many different feeding restrictions with Paylean™. Just to set the story straight here they are directly from Elanco, the company that produces Paylean™:

• Paylean™ can be fed from 4.5 to 18 grams/ton of complete feed
• Paylean™ is labeled for use in pigs weighing from 150 to 240 lb
• Paylean™ does not require a withdrawal prior to slaughter
• Paylean™ should be fed in a diet containing at least 16% crude protein.
• Elanco recommends feeding Paylean™ during the last six weeks (last 90 lb of gain) prior to slaughter
• Currently, no feed grade medications are approved to be fed in combination with Paylean™. However, injectable or water soluble antibiotics may be administered to pigs being fed Paylean™.
• Currently, Paylean™ is not cleared for use in breeding animals. In tests, gilts fed Paylean™ during the finishing period only, had similar results in a subsequent breeding, gestation, and lactation period as controls.

Sometimes people say a picture is worth a thousand words. Probably the best way to describe how Paylean™ works is shown in the picture below. Simply put, Phenethanolamines like Paylean™ speed up the rate fat is released or burned (from adipose or fat cells) and decrease the rate of fat deposited. What this does is makes nutrients more available to the nutrient pool which can be used for protein synthesis and muscle growth. Thus, pigs fed Paylean™ become heavier muscled and leaner at the same time.

Taken from Anderson et al. (1991).

One thing is clear, Paylean™ works! Scientific studies have shown Paylean™ increases lean muscle and average daily gain, decreases the fat content of carcasses and improves feed efficiency. In addition, since Paylean™ makes pigs more efficient, pigs don’t consume as much feed. Typical results of feeding Paylean™ are shown below:

Summary of Paylean™ response.*

Values taken from Schinckel and Richert, 2000. *18.0 g/ton level for the last 90 lbs of live weight gain.

Walkins et al., 1988, 6 trials, 888 pigs.

Another important point to remember is the lean growth response to Paylean™ is not constant over the entire 90 lb gain feeding period. The response increases, reaches a plateau, and then declines with the maximum response being achieved at 22-26 lbs of live weight gain or approximately 9-24 days on Paylean™ at the 18 grams/ton (Williams et al., 1994).

As you can see, pigs fed increasing levels of Paylean™ have a significant increase in lean growth rates and a general reduction in feed intake. These facts alone suggest pigs receiving Paylean™ will require more nutrients to optimize muscle growth. Next, let’s discuss what these key nutrients are.

*Adeola and Young, 1989.

Thus, to obtain the maximum protein deposition rates from Paylean™, pigs must be fed diets with protein (amino acid) concentrations higher than those presently recommended for finisher pigs during the last 90 lbs of weight gain. Later we will show you how to obtain these important amino acids for muscle growth.

Yes, Elanco recommends the total dietary lysine levels be increased by up to 25%.  This is dependent upon which phase of the finishing phase your animals are in and which level of Paylean™ you are feeding.

We know that muscle development requires the proper amounts and balance of amino acids but as equally important requires adequate energy. Pigs depositing large amounts of muscle require a high level of energy in the diet. Therefore, the expectation might be that when pigs are treated with Paylean™, they would require increased energy to support the increase in muscle development. However, current data are somewhat inconclusive.

Based on current available data we cannot arrive at a clear answer. However, research in lean growth genotype pigs has shown better responses with higher levels of vitamin supplementation. Research in chickens using a compound similar to Ractopamine has demonstrated that added thiamin to diets helps to increase the response of phenethanolamines (Hamano et al., 1999).

There is currently no data that address the calcium and phosphorus requirement of pigs offered Paylean™. However, ractopamine has been reported to lower the bone content of pigs, expressed as an individual bone weight and accretion rate per day. (Bark, 1990).

Efficacy of ractopamine in pigs of low and high genetic capacity for lean growth.

Bark, 1990. Study involved 72 pigs from 140 to 230 lbs bodyweight.Effect of ractopamine (P<.04) for bone weights and (P<.11) for the accretion rate of bone (gram/day).

Based upon these data one might expect that pigs fed Paylean™ may have an increased requirement for calcium and phosphorus.

As you can see, Paylean™ is a technically advanced product. If all of this confuses or scares you, don’t worry, we have a solution. We pride ourselves in putting together supplement products that make feeding advanced technologies like Paylean™ easy, convenient, and cost effective. Click here if you are interested in seeing Premier Nutrition’s solution.