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Utilization of sun-dried on-farm generated poultry litter as a feed resource for growing-finishing pigs
Abstract
diet. Increases were also recorded in the acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) fractions of the diets as a result of the replacement levels of SOPL. Daily weight gains and the efficiency of feed utilization of the growing pigs were not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced by the graded levels of SOPL. Replacement of maize with 33 and 66% SOPL resulted in 10.4 -20.9% reduction in the cost of feed/kg. This in turn resulted in 15 - 25% reduction in the cost of feed required for an additional kg gain/pig when the graded levels of SOPL was fed to the pigs. An increased level of up to 66% SOPL resulted in a depression (P < 0.05) in the values of packed cell volume (PCV) and white blood cells (WBC) while the hemoglobin, serum glucose, urea, creatinine and glutamate pyruvate transaninase values of the pigs across the groups were unaffected (P > 0.05). However, variations recorded in the values of the red blood cells (RBC) and alkaline phosphatase did not follow any particular trend. The values of the serum total protein, albumin and cholesterol values increased significantly (P < 0.05).