Abstract
Abstract: The objective of this work was to determine the nutrient digestibility and metabolizable energy (ME) of fish silage, as well as to evaluate the effect of the dietary inclusion of fish silage meal (FSM) in diets on the performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality, sensory analysis of meat and mortadella, and economic viability of growing and finishing pigs. In the digestibility assay, 16 barrows (33.20±4.93 kg) received diets with and without FSM. The fish silage had 39.01% crude protein and 4,032 kcal kg-1 ME. In the performance assay, 32 barrows (26.00±1.68 kg) were fed diets containing different inclusion levels of FSM (0, 25, 50, and 75%). FSM, obtained from the mixture (1:1) of fish silage with corn, showed a quadratic effect on average daily gain, and the best result was obtained with the inclusion level of 25.83%. The results for feed conversion and economic viability indicate that up to 25% FSM, corresponding to 5.87% of fish silage based on dry matter, can be used in the pig growing and finishing phases.
Highlights
The oscillating prices of corn and of soybean meal, the main raw materials of feed in pig farming, often make this activity economically unfeasible, leading to a constant search for alternative feedstuffs
Using these residues for this purpose can reduce the environmental impact of fish farming (Geron et al, 2006), and the ensiling process, in which the residues undergo controlled fermentation, results in a product that can be stored for longer periods
For the fish silage meal (FSM), we considered the values of nutritional composition, corn metabolizable energy (ME) (Rostagno, 2011), and of the fish silage, obtained in the digestibility assay
Summary
The oscillating prices of corn and of soybean meal, the main raw materials of feed in pig farming, often make this activity economically unfeasible, leading to a constant search for alternative feedstuffs. These feedstuffs are usually residues and by-products from food processing aiming human nutrition. Which shows the importance of evaluating their possible use in animal feed (Pimenta et al, 2007) Using these residues for this purpose can reduce the environmental impact of fish farming (Geron et al, 2006), and the ensiling process, in which the residues undergo controlled fermentation, results in a product that can be stored for longer periods. FSM is a product that has a high dry matter content and that is easy to store and use in the formulation of diets for pigs
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