ArticleTropical animal health and production2026
Ractopamine under dietary protein adjustment improves growth performance and carcass traits of immunocastrated and surgically castrated pigs slaughtered 21 days after vaccination.
Article in Tropical animal health and production, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of immunocastration and ractopamine hydrochloride (RAC) supplementation on growth performance and carcass traits of male pigs slaughtered 21 days after the second immunization. Sixty-four pigs (Landrace × Large White, initial body weight 103.05 ± 0.67 kg) were individually tagged and randomly assigned to a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement in a completely randomized design, consisting of two castration methods (immunocastrated vs. surgically castrated) and two dietary RAC levels (0 or 10 ppm). No castration method × RAC interactions were observed for any variable (P > 0.05). Immunocastrated (IM) pigs exhibited 19.5% greater average daily gain (ADG) and 13% lower feed-to-gain ratio (FG) compared with surgically castrated (SC) pigs (P < 0.05). IM pigs also showed reduced backfat thickness across all measurement sites and greater lean meat percentage, whereas SC pigs had higher carcass yield (P < 0.05). Ractopamine supplementation under increased amino acid supply increased ADG by 13.6%, improved hot carcass weight by 3.1%, and reduced FG by 13% (P < 0.05). Overall, immunocastration improved growth performance and carcass leanness, while RAC supplementation increased average daily gain by 13.6%, confirming its additive effect under a shortened 21-day post-immunization interval. Immunization against GnRH combined with RAC feeding represents an effective strategy for producing heavy-weight finishing pigs with improved efficiency.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.