The Effect of Ash Content on the Nutritive Value of Meat and Bone Meal for Growing Pigs

Abstract

Abstract A balance experiment was conducted with 9 barrows at live weight from 25 to 75 kg. The experiment had a 9 × 6 cyclic change-over design and the treatments were arranged factorially. The factors were three protein sources: soya bean meal (SBM), low ash meat and bone meal [MBL, 208 g ash/kg dry matter (DM)], and high ash meat and bone meal (MBH, 330 g ash/kg DM); and three protein supplementation levels: 20, 45 and 70 g crude protein/kg DM. The apparent digestibility of crude protein was SBM 0.897, MBL 0.755 and MBH 0.748. The nitrogen (N) retention increased linearly (p<0.001) as N intake increased, but the rate of increase was steeper for SBM diets compared with MBL and MBH diets. The pigs given MBH diets retained more N than those given MBL diets (p < 0.05), but no differences were observed in the rate of increase. The apparent digestibility of crude fat was SBM 0.729, MBL 0.690 and MBH 0.279. The determined digestible energy contents were SBM 16.62, MBL 13.38 and MBH 9.47 MJ/kg DM. The calcium,...