We (Patience et al. 2006) and others have shown improvements in lean growth and feed
efficiency when ractopamine (Paylean®) was fed to finishing pigs. The objective of the following
experiment was to determine if the improvements in nutrient utilization with Paylean can lead to a
demonstrable reduction in the environmental footprint of pork production.
A metabolism experiment was conducted to measure the effect of 0. 5 or 10 mg/kg
ractopamine (RAC) from Paylean on N and water balance in finishing swine. Paylean improved ADG,
N retention in the carcass and feed efficiency and decreased water intake and urine output. Because of
the improvement in N and water utilization in finishing pigs, we concluded that Paylean can reduce the
environmental impact of pork production.