Effect of cooking time on the nutritive value of Lablab Seed in Diets of Young Pigs

Abstract

Two trials were conducted using a total of ninety-six cross-bred (Large White X Landrace) young pigs to determine the effect of duration of cooking lablab seed on performance and nutrients digestibility. In the first experiment, 60 cross-bred (Large white X Landrace) young pigs averaging 11.50+0.16kg were used to determine the effect of duration of cooking lablab seeds on growth performance. The pigs used were fed iso-nitrogenous (20%CP) diets in which lablab seeds were either fed raw or cooked at 100°C for 15, 30, 45 or 60 minutes before incorporation into the diets. A soyabean meal based diet served as the control. Feed intake, daily weight gain, final live weight and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P<0.05) better as the duration of cooking increased. The feed cost per unit gain also decreased significantly (P<0.05) with increasing cooking time. The second experiment involved 36 cross-bred (Large White X Landrace) barrows averaging 10.48+0.09kg to examine the effect of duration of cooking lablab seeds at 100°C for 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes on apparent nutrient digestibility. The test diets were similar in composition with those used in Trial 1. Intakes and apparent digestibilities of dietary dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fibre (CF), Ash, Nitrogen free Extract (NFE) and nitrogen retention increased with increasing duration of cooking. It could be concluded that, for optimal performance and nutrients digestibility, lablab seeds should be cooked at 100°C for 30 minutes before incorporation into diets of young pigs.