Growth performance of South African Windsnyer pigs to the dietary inclusion of Amarula oil cake.

Abstract

Dietary inclusion of Amarula oil cake (AOC) in pig diets can ease pressure of relying on non-native feed sources and benefit the swine industry. The study was conducted to determine the growth performance of Windsnyer pigs fed increasing levels of AOC. Twenty-five clinically growing male boars with an initial body weight of 19.92 ± 8.74kg were used in the study that lasted 6weeks. All pigs were allocated to diets in a completely randomised design. Five experimental diets were formulated to contain 0, 50, 100, 150 and 200g/kg DM of AOC. Average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), scaled average daily feed intake (SADFI), scaled average daily gain (SADG) and body weight (BW) were calculated weekly. The diet affected ADFI, ADG, FCR and SADG (P < 0.05). Scaled average daily feed intake was not affected by the diet (P > 0.05). There was a significant interaction between AOC inclusion and weeks of feeding on ADFI, ADG and FCR (P < 0.05). Age of pigs decreased FCR quadratically (P < 0.001). A quadratic relationship between ADFI and increasing levels of AOC was observed (P < 0.05). Average daily gain, FCR and SADG decreased linearly with increasing AOC levels (P < 0.05). Using the broken stick analyses, the maximum inclusion of AOC was 102.17g/kg DM. Amarula oil cake can be incorporated in diets of Windsnyer pigs up to 100g/kg DM without constraining growth performance.