AN APPRAISAL OF THE PERFORMANCE OF WEANER AND GROWER PIGS FED FROM DIFFERENT FEEDING TROUGHS: CONCRETE FEEDING TROUGH, SEMI-AUTOMATIC FEEDER AND THEIR COMBINATION

Résumé

Performance of weaned and growing pigs fed from concrete feeding trough, semi-automatic feeder and its combination was examined for eight weeks. Sixty weaned cross bred (Large white × Landrace) pigs of average initial weight of 9.04 ±0.31 kg were used for the weaner phase. The animals were distributed into three treatments (T1; concrete feeding trough, T2: concrete feeding trough and semi-automatic feeder and T3; semiautomatic feeder), with four replicates of five pigs per replicate. Ninety growing pigs with average initial weight of 18.19±0.31 kg were allocated to three experimental treatments with five replicates of six pigs per replicate. The experimental design was completely randomized design. Feed and water were supplied unrestrictedly. Weekly feed intake and weight were monitored. Performance and economic variables were evaluated. There was no significant (P>0.05) effect of different feeders on all the performance and economic variables across the treatments for the weaner phase. The total cost of feeding (₦) ranged from 7170.4 to 7687.80. During the growing phase, the average daily weight gain (g) ranged from 428.57 to 448.74. The highest and lowest average daily weight gain was observed in pigs fed from the combined feeders and the semi-automatic feeder respectively. The total cost of feeding (₦) and average cost of feed per day (₦) were significantly (P<0.05) different among the treatments. The pigs that fed from the combined feeders (T2) had highest total cost of feeding (₦) while the total cost of feeding for the pigs that fed from concrete feeding trough (T1) and semiautomatic feeder were comparable.