The effect of feeding maize-cob meal diets on carcass and organ characteristics of grower pigs

Abstract

Effects of dietary inclusions of maize-cob-meal on the carcass and organ characteristics of grower pigs were investigated with using 24 landrace x large white grower pigs weighting 16.±.06 kg on the average at 56 days of age. The pigs were divided into four treatment groups, each consisting
of six pigs and further replicated three times with two pigs per replicate. Four treatment diets were formulated containing 0, 10, 20 and 30% of maize-cob-meal-diets. The pigs groups were assigned to their respective diets in a completely randomized design (CRD) and water was given ad-libitum. At the 9th week of the experiment, one pig per replicate was selected and slaughtered to evaluate the carcass and organ characteristics. The results showed that dressed weights were not significantly affected by the treatment diets, which were found to be similar (p>0.05) at varying
levels of treatment. The values of ham indicated no significant difference (p>0.05) between treatments. However, shoulder values indicated significantly (p<0.5) higher percentage values at 30% diet. Ham followed similar trend. The pigs on control diet were significantly (p<0.05) higher in
their loin and carcass length yield than those fed 20 and 30% diets, respectively. The ribcage region values were significantly (p<0.05) affected by the treatment diets. Pigs receiving 20% maize cob meal had higher percentage of head then the control treatment, but no significant difference (p>0.05) was observed in trotter and tail values. Heart, liver, lungs, kidney, spleen, empty stomach and intestinal segments values were similar among treatment groups (p>0.05). It was concluded that feeding up to 20% maize-cob meal to grower pigs has no deleterious effects on carcass and internal organ yield.

Keywords: Landrace, large white, maize-cob-meal, grower pigs, carcass, organs,