Nutrient Digestibility of Grower Pigs Fed Varying Levels of Maize Cob Meal Diet

Abstract

Twenty-four landrace x large-white grower pigs were used to study the effect of feeding maize cob meal (MCM) diet on digestibility of nutrients in the grower pigs ration. Four treatments diets were formulated constituting 0, 10, 20 and 30% maize cob meal based diets with the 0% treatment serving as control. The pigs were fed their respective diets in a completely randomized design. The results indicated that there was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the digestibility of dry matter among the experimental groups. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) in the digestibility of crude protein (CP) among the groups. The highest CP value was recorded by the group on 0% dietary level of maize-cob-meal, while groups on 10% dietary level recorded the lowest value. Crude fiber (CF) digestibility was significantly different (p<0.05) among the treatment groups. The ether extract digestibility was also significant different (p<0.05) among the treatment groups. The highest value was obtained from groups on the 20% dietary treatment, while the lowest value was recorded by the group fed 10% MCM. Values for the other treatment groups were similar (p>0.05). These results show that inclusion of maize-cob-meal up to 20% level in pig diets is beneficial.