Effects of fibre and protein levels on growth and carcass characteristics of pigs

H. K. Ong and R. I. Hutagalung

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to study the effects of different levels of fibre and protein on the growth and carcass characteristics of pigs. Nine diets were formulated to comprise three levels of fibre averaging 10%, 15% and 20% of neutral detergent fibre and three levels of protein averaging 14.6%, 17.6% and 20.6% of N x 6.25. These diets were fed to 90 pigs (ten pigs per treatment). Dietary fibre significantly (P<0.01) reduced average daily gain (ADG) to 753, 676 and 559 g for pigs consuming low, medium and high fibre diets respectively. Pigs fed high fibre diet had significantly (P<0.05) lower average daily intake. Feed conversion efficiency was adversely affected as the dietary fibre increased, i.e.,3.12,3.40 and 3.92 in pigs fed low, medium and high fibre diets respectively. Dressing percentage was significantly (P<0.01) reduced while the digestive tracts were significantly (P<0.01) larger as the level of fibre increased.. Pigs fed higher dietary fibre had significantly (P<0.01) thinner backfat and tended to yield more lean cuts. Pigs fed low protein diet showed lower ADG than those receiving medium and high protein diets. However, the ADG of pigs fed medium and high protein diets did not differ significantly. There were no significant differences in carcass traits except that pigs fed the low protein diet had thicker backfat compared with those consuming medium or high protein diets.

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