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Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the digestibility coefficients (DC) of corn [maize] with an oil content above 3.46% and its effects on the performance of piglets when fed as dry grain (DG) and as rehydrated corn grain silage (RCGS). In Experiment I, 15 piglets (22.51 + 2.39 kg) were allocated to a reference diet (RD) and to two test diets in which corn in the RD was replaced with DG or RCGS. There were five replications of each treatment. Experiment II involved 36 piglets (14.76 ± 2.72 kg), which were assigned to a control diet with common corn grain and to diets in which DG or RCGS replaced the common corn. There were six replications of each treatment. Data were analysed with four statistical models. Model 1 included only the effect of treatment. Model 2 was similar to Model 1 but included initial bodyweight as a covariate. Model 3 was similar to model 1 but included the interaction of diet and period. Model 4 was similar to Model 3 but included the covariate. The more complicated models were generally preferred to Model 1 as they controlled more of the nuisance variation. Feeding a diet that contained RCGS reduced feed intake and improved feed conversion ratio (FCR).
Highlights
Common dry corn is the customary source of dietary energy for feeding pigs
These ingredients may differ from values in previous studies owing to factors such as the genetic potential of the seeds, level of fertilization, soil fertility, climatic conditions, type of processing, time of harvest, and stage of physiological maturity of the plant (Åkerfeldt et al, 2019)
The gross energy (GE) values in the present study were slightly lower than those observed by Rostagno et al (2017), who used corn grain silage made from corn with a higher oil content than the corn that was used in this study
Summary
Common dry corn is the customary source of dietary energy for feeding pigs. The varieties of corn that are usually used to feed pigs contain between 3.5% and 9.7% ether extract (EE) (Adeola & Bajjalieh, 1997; Silva et al, 2006; Rostagno et al, 2017). Corn with higher oil content can be ensiled with fermentation bringing about partial gelatinization of the starch and promoting better enzymatic digestion in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) (Lopes et al, 2001; Oliveira et al, 2004; Silva et al, 2006) This results from a reduced rate of passage, which allows for improved nutrient digestibility (Adeola & Bajjalieh, 1997; Park et al, 2012; Jordan et al, 2014; Weng, 2017). The action of digestive enzymes was more efficient in wet silage particles because of the pH of the content of the GIT (Lopes et al, 2001), which provided more energy (Oliveira et al, 2004), without affecting the nitrogen balance (Silva et al, 2005), ensuring a uniform flow of digesta into GIT (Lopes et al, 2001), and improved the fatty acid composition of the backfat (Capraro et al, 2017)
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