Efecto de la administración de boldenona sobre el desempeño zootécnico en cerdos de engorde en el cantón Cerecita, provincia del Guayas.

Abstract

The objective of this research work was to evaluate the effect of strategic boldenone administration on zootechnical performance and financial viability in finishing pigs. The study was carried out at the "Lutquim S.A." farm, located in Cerecita, Guayas province. A randomized complete design was used to analyze three treatments with commercial hybrid pigs uniformly distributed across physical pens: T0 (Pen 19, Control Group fed 100% conventional diet without drug), T1 (Pen 20, Simultaneous boldenone application treatment at day 0), and T2 (Pen 21, Deferred application treatment with a one-week delay). Evaluated variables included weight gain by phases, cumulative feed intake, and Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR).Biometric results processed through Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) determined highly significant statistical differences among groups. In the intermediate evaluation (Week 3), the deferred group (T2) reflected an acute adaptive delay, recording an average weight gain of only 17.42 kg compared to the control group T0 (24.38 kg) and T1 (24.61 kg). However, by the end of the trial (Week 8), the metabolic behavior drastically inverted due to a marked compensatory hyperphagic effect induced by the anabolic drug in T2, raising its average final weight gain to a significantly higher value of 28.59 kg (F(2.55) = 139.51; p < 0.0001), followed by T1 (14.21 kg) and T0 (11.86 kg). The most robust biological optimization was observed in the feed efficiency during the eighth week, where T2 consolidated the best Feed Conversion Ratio with an average FCR of 2.52, significantly differing from the intermediate group T1 (3.37) and the control group T0 (3.92).The financial cost-benefit analysis demonstrated that the deferred scheme (T2) generated the highest profitability in the study, with a projected net benefit of $68.70 USD per animal, outperforming the control group T0 ($54.37 USD) and the simultaneous group T1 ($57.90 USD). It is concluded that the chronological scheduling of boldenone significantly alters the dynamics of porcine growth; although it causes a temporary productive setback due to adaptive stress, it promotes a remarkable subsequent lean tissue acceleration and higher economic efficiency within the evaluated scenario.