Replacement value of maize offal for maize in the diet of weaner pigs containing chicken offal meal

Abstract

Thirty six Largewhite x Landrace weaner pigs, between 49-56 days of age, averaging 8.84 ± 0.32kg body weight were used in a 56-day trial to determine the replacement value of maize offal (MO) for maize in the diet of weaner pigs containing chicken offal meal (COM). The pigs were randomly allotted to six dietary treatment groups of 0, 25, 30, 35, 40 and 45% MO replacement for maize (0, 13.66, 16.34, 19.03, 21.70 and 24.39% MO inclusion respectively) in isonitrogenous (20% crude protein) diets enriched with COM. The MO inclusions in the diets was directly related to the crude fibre and inversely related to the metabolisable energy contents numerically. The dry matter and protein intakes (0.80 - 0.87kg and 0.16 - 0.18kg respectively) were not affected (P>0.05) by increasing MO inclusions, thereby resulting in the efficient utilization of the constituent nutrients in terms of feed: gain, protein efficiency ratio and metabolisable energy per gain to support comparable (P>0.05) gains across the groups. The feed cost per liveweight gain was not significantly (P>0.05) affected by the increasing MO inclusion up to 24.39% (i.e. 45% maize replacement). The serum metabolites (total protein, albumin, globulin, creatinine, urea, cholesterol and glucose values) of the pigs confirmed the satisfactory efficient utilization of the nutrients as well as the overall feed. It can therefore be inferred from the results that weaner pigs can tolerate up to 24.39% maize offal inclusion as a replacement for maize (45% replacement) in diet enriched with chicken offal meal.

Keywords: Replacement value, Maize offal, Weaner pigs, Chicken offal meal