Dehydrated cassava co-product in starting piglets feeding

Abstract

Two experiments were carried out to determine the nutritional value of a dehydrated cassava co-product (DCC) and its effects on the performance and blood variables of piglets fed with different levels of DCC. In experiment I, a digestibility assay was performed and 30 whole-male crossbred piglets with initial body weight of 18.00 ± 0.673 kg were housed individually in metabolism cages and distributed in a completely randomized experimental design with 5 treatments, 6 replicates and one animal per experimental unit. A reference diet was formulated to meet the category nutritional requirements and the different levels of DCC replacement (6, 12, 18 and 24%) were used to replace the reference diet and composed the treatments. In experiment II, 120 piglets (60 whole males and 60 females) were used, with initial body weight of 13.05 ± 1.59 kg, distributed in a randomized complete block design with 5 treatments, 6 replicates and 4 animals per experimental unit. Treatments consisted of five feeds with increasing inclusion levels (0, 3, 6, 9 and 12%) of the DCC. The feed based on corn and soybean meal were formulated to meet the recommended levels in starting piglets feeding. The data were submitted for statistical analysis and, when presenting significant difference, the averages were compared by the Dunnet’s test at 10 % significance. In the digestibility assay, the values of DCC’s digestive energy and metabolizable energy of 3,022 and 2,984 kcal kg -1 in natural matter, respectively, were found. There was no significant effect (p > 0.10) of inclusion levels of DCC on the final weight and daily gain of weight however we observed a quadratic effect (p < 0.10) of the DCC levels on daily feed intake and feed conversion. For the analysis of blood parameters, the results showed that there was no effect (p > 0.10) of DCC levels on glucose and blood urea in the different treatments. The use of the dehydrated cassava co-product can be an energetic alternative to piglets in starting phase and can be used up to 12 %.