High-Quality Cassava Peel®Mash Supplemented with Direct Fed Microbial as an Alternate Source of Energy Supplement: Effect on Performance and Economic Analysis of Weaned Pig

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of Direct fed microbial (DFM) on High-quality cassava peel® (HQCP) utilization when HQCP is used to replace maize up to 15kg(37.5%) out of total 40kg maize in the diet of by weaned pigs. A total number of ninety crossbred (Large White × Landrace) weaned pigs with an average initial weight of 11.10 ± 0.4 kg (± SE) were used for the study. The experimental animals were assigned to five dietary treatments (T) in a 2 × 2 +1 factorial design of eighteen weaned pigs per treatment. Pigs on T1 were given 40% maize-based diet without HQCP, while T2 had 7.5kg (18.75%) of the total maize replaced with HQCP and T3 had 15kg (37.5%) of total maize replaced with HQCP. The pigs on T4 were given the same diet as in T2 with the addition of multi-strain DFM and pigs on T5 were given the same diet with those on T3 with addition of multi-strain DFM. The least final weight was recorded in treatment 3 while the highest final weight was recorded in treatment 2. Treatment 4 recorded the lowest body weight gain while the highest body weight gain was recorded in treatment 2. There was no effect of DFM on the performance of the pigs, as the treatments with DFM inclusion did not give improved performance over the treatment without the DFM. The feed conversion ratios of 2.60 to 3.10 were obtained in this study. Treatment 2 recorded the least feed conversion ratio (2.60) while treatment 4 feed conversion ratio (3.10) was the highest. There was neither significant effect of HQCP level nor DFM inclusion on all the performance parameters. The interaction between HQCP levels and DFM was likewise not significant. The cost of feeding per unit weight gain (N/kg) was comparable among the groups mainly due to the savings on account of the lower cost of HQCP. It was therefore concluded that weaned pig can utilized HQCP up to 15kg (representing 37.5% of the maize content) without any deleterious effect on their performance while the addition of DFM may not be necessary in order to reduce the cost of production.