GROWTH PERFORMANCE AND NUTRIENT DIGESTIBILITY OF WEANED PIGS FED DIETS CONTAINING GRADED LEVELS OF CABBAGE (BRASSICA OLERACEA VAR) LEAF MEAL

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of dried cabbage (Brassica oleracea var) residue leaf meal(DCRLM) on the growth performance and nutrient digestibility of pigs. In an eight-week feeding trial, forty-five (45), average of 8 weeks old crossbred weaned pigs were randomly allocated to five experimental treatment diets. Each treatment was replicated thrice having nine (9) per treatment in a completely randomized design (CRD). Dried cabbage residue leaf meal (DCRLM) was prepared and included at graded levels of 0.0 (control), 2.5, 5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 %.in the diets Feed and water were given to the pigs ad libitum. The parameters measured and calculated include initial weight, final weight, weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio and feed cost per kilogram gain. Digestibilities of Dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), crude fibre (CF), ether extract (EE) and ash were significantly different (P<0.05) between the dietary treatment groups. Cabbage supplementation increased the average weight gain of the weaner pigs but there was no significant increase in the nutrient digestibility of the test diets compared to the control diet containing conventional feedstuff used in this experiment. Thus, dried cabbage residue leaf meal of 10 % can be included in pig diets without adverse effect on performance and nutrient digestibility.