Performance of weaner pigs fed diets containing fermented maize milling waste

Abstract

A 42-days study was carried out with twelve (12) nine week old large white x landrace cross weaner pigs to determine their performance when fed with graded levels of fermented maize milling waste (FMMW) resulting from pap production. Four weaner diets were formulated such that diets T 1, T 2, T 3 andT 4 contained maize and FMMW at the proportions of 60, 0%, 55, 5%, 50, 10%; and 45, 15% respectively. Other ingredients remained constant for the four diets. The diet were offered to weaner pigs, which were randomly divided into four (4) groups of 3 pigs each, with each pig constituting a replicate in a completely randomized design (CRD) experiment. At the end of 42-days treatment, the daily feed intake stood at 315, 318, 321 and 323g for T 1, T 2, T 3 and T 4 respectively, while the daily weight gain stood at 95, 93.2, 91 and 88.9 for T 1, T 2, T 3 and T 4 respectively. The feed conversion ratios were 3.32, 3.42, 3.53 and 3.63 for T1, T 2, T 3 and T 4 respectively. The results of the experiment showed no significant (p 0.05) difference in feed intake and daily weight gain for the treatment groups. However the feed conversion ratio of the control pigs was significantly (p< 0.05) lower and better than the other treatment groups, thus indicating that up to 15% FMMW could be incorporated in the ration of the weaner pigs without significantly depressing its growth rate. In terms of cost however, FMMW should be used to reduce the cost of production as the least cost per kg weight gain was produced at 15% FMMW inclusion.

Animal Production Research Avancees Vol. 3 (1) 2007: pp. 23-27