COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF THE PERFORMANCE OF CROSSBRED WEANED PIGS ON CONCRETE, SLATTED AND STRAW FLOORS

Abstract

In order to ensure sustainable pig production in most tropical countries, alternative flooring systems need to be investigated and adopted. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the effect of three type of floors (concrete, straw and slatted) on the performance characteristics of crossbred weaned pigs.
Eighteen crossbred weaned pigs were obtained from the piggery unit of Teaching and Research farm of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology, Igboora. The concrete floors were constructed using cement, gravel, sand and water. The straw floor were made of maize stalk, and slatted floor were made of wooden plank. The crossbred weaned pigs were allotted into three treatments of six (6) animals per replicate. The experiment lasted for eight weeks. Data obtained were arranged in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) and analyzed by Analysis of Variance. Data obtained showed significant (P<0.05) difference in the final live weight of pig across the treatments with the highest live weight 21.08±3.64a recorded for pig in treatment 3 (slatted floor), while the least final live weight 14.17±0.58b was observed for pig in treatment 2 (straw floor). The final live weight of pig raised on concrete floor 16.03±0.14ab was similar (P>0.05) to the final live weight 21.08±3.64a of pig raised on slatted floor. The feed conversion ratio showed significant (P<0.05) difference across the
treatment with the best result 1.89a obtained in pig raised on slatted floor. The feed conversion ratio showed significant (P<0.05) difference across the treatment. It could be concluded that the weaned pig raised on slatted floor recorded the best result. Keywords: Beddings, concrete, slatted, straw, floor, weaned pig.