Performance of pigs given diets containing different levels of triticale

Abstract

ABSTRACTSixty crossbred female and male castrate pigs were randomly allocated to five treatments in which 0, 20, 40, 60 and 80% of the ground maize in grower and finisher diets was replaced by triticale on an equal weight basis.Pigs receiving the basal maize growing diet (0% tritcale) gained less than pigs fed the triticale diets (P<0·05). Pigs given the diets in which 20% of the maize was replaced by triticale gained significantly more than those given the other diets (P<0·05). Increasing replacement in the grower diets beyond 20% resulted in a linear decrease in consumption and weight gains (P<0·05). Feed conversion was similar for all diets which contained triticale.The basal finisher diet, and the diet with 20% of the maize replaced, promoted better feed consumption and weight gain than the diets in which 40, 60 and 80% of the maize was replaced by triticale during the finishing phase and for the entire 109-day growing-finishing period. Carcass quality grade was higher for pigs fed the basal diet and the diet in which 20% of the maize was replaced by triticale (P<0·05 ) but there were no differences in the other parameters of carcass quality, nor in the composition, cooking quality and organoleptics,. of the longissimus muscle. Fatty acid profiles of the longissimus muscle indicated that palmitic and oleic acids were significantly higher (P<0·05 ) and linoleic and palmitoleic significantly lower (P<;0·05) in pigs given the basal and 20% replacement diets than in pigs given the other diets. The results show that triticale could replace maize partially (up to 20%) in diets for pigs.