High quality cassava peel fine mash as replacement for maize in diets of growing pigs: 2. Effects on nutrient and fibre fraction digestibility

Abstract

Twenty growing pigs with an average initial weight of 53±0.5 kg (± SE) were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments in a completely randomized design with four replicates per treatment and one animal in each replicate. A total tract digestibility trial was carried out to determine the effect of partial replacement of maize with graded levels of high quality cassava peel (HQCP) mashon the nutrient digestibility and fibre fraction digestibility of growing pigs. The control diet T1 had 40% of maize, while the dietary treatments T2, T3, T4 and T5 had7.5, 15, 22.5 and 30% of HQCP corresponding to replacement of maize by 0, 19, 38, 56 and 75% respectively. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in apparent nutrient digestibility coefficient of dry matter, nitrogen free extract, organic matter and energy. There were significant(P<0.05)variationsintheapparentdigestibilityofcrudeprotein,crudefibreand ether extract and the crude protein digestibility decreased as the level of HQCP increased from 7.5 to 30%. Also, there was a significant (P<0.05) increase in acid detergent fibre and acid detergent lignin digestibilities with the inclusion of HQCP compared to the control, whereas there was no significant (P>0.05) influence of HQCP inclusion on hemicellulose digestibility among the treatments. It can thus be concluded that the nutritional potential of high quality cassava peel can still be realised when fed up to 30% in growing pig diet