Abstract
The aim of this study was to determine the digestibility coefficients of the nutritional components of cottonseed meal for pigs in the finishing phase. Fourteen castrated male commercial pigs with average initial weight of 56.29 ± 2.49 kg were used. The animals were housed individually in cages for metabolic study (experimental unit) in a randomized complete block design (defined by initial weight) with two treatments and seven replications per treatment. The treatments consisted of a reference diet, formulated to meet the minimum nutritional requirements of pigs in the finishing phase, and a test diet, consisting of 75% of the reference diet and 25% of cottonseed meal. The total feces collection method was used. The values of chemical and digestible composition of cottonseed meal were 88.78; 93.82; 6.18; 21.11; 19.26; 4.29 and 44.09%; and 57.78; 48.62; 0.48; 2.82; 5.83; 2.58 and 28.86% for dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), mineral matter (MM), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), ether extract (EE) and protein (CP) respectively. The values are close to those found in the literature, exception for the protein that presented higher value, however the digestibility was relatively low. Cottonseed meal has high nutritional value, but with low digestible values.
Highlights
Nutrition plays an important role within the swine production system, being essential in providing nutrients for the maximum expression of the productive potential.Corn and soybean meal are the main energy and protein sources, respectively, of pig feed, being decisive in the final cost of production (MOREIRA et al, 2006)
The nutritional quality of cottonseed meal may vary according to the processing (CARDOSO, 1998) and the variety of the plant (REZENDE et al, 2012), resulting in bran with low fiber and high protein content
At the beginning of the test, the animals were weighed and distributed between two diets, the reference diet (RD) being formulated to meet the requirements indicated by Rostagno et al (2017), considering the energy concentration of 3348 kcal EM / kg of feed, for male pigs, with high genetic potential and the test diet, comprising 75% of the reference diet and 25% of cottonseed meal (Table 1)
Summary
Nutrition plays an important role within the swine production system, being essential in providing nutrients for the maximum expression of the productive potential.Corn and soybean meal are the main energy and protein sources, respectively, of pig feed, being decisive in the final cost of production (MOREIRA et al, 2006). Some researches have been carried out (RESENDE et al, 2012; MELLO et al, 2012; PAIANO et al, 2014; NASCIMENTO et al, 2018) to evaluate the use of cottonseed meal as an alternative food to soybean meal. It is a co-product, available on the market and at a lower cost, its use in pig feed is limited by the nutritional factors that this food may have, such as the presence of gossypol, high fiber content and low amount of essential amino acids, in addition to the great variation in the quality and quantity of the protein (PRAWIRODIGDO et al, 1997).
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