Growth Response, Carcass Traits and Cholesterol of Growing-Finishing Pigs fed Different Fibre Feedstuffs based Diets

Abstract

The study evaluated the growth response, carcass traits and cholesterol of growing
finishing pigs fed different fibre feedstuffs made up of palm kernel cake (PKC), corn
bran (CB), rice bran (RB) and brewers dried grain (BDG) for twelve weeks. Sixteen
cross-bred (Large White ×Hampshire) growing pigs of average weight 31.25±1.88
kg were randomly distributed into 4 experimental diets of 4 animals per treatment
with each animal serving as a replicate. Diet 1 contained 40% of Corn bran (CB),
while diets 2, 3 and 4 contained 40% of PKC, BDG and RB respectively. The design
of the study was completely randomized design. The growth response of the animals
showed significant difference (P < 0.05) on the average final weight and daily weight
gain. The average final weight ranged from 55.24 to 72.11 kg with PKC based diet
having the highest value and RB based diet having the least. The average daily
weight gain was highest for PKC based diet (0.470 kg) and lowest (0.281kg) for RB
based diet. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) ranged from 3.39 to 4.66. The carcass
cholesterol which was significantly affected (p<0.05) by the dietary treatments
ranged from 43.44 to 53.00 mg/100g) with PKC based diet having the least value. It
can be concluded from this study that PKC was better utilized by growing/finishing
pigs than the other fiber feedstuffs for growth, Carcass trait and low Carcass
cholesterol.