Two experiments were conducted to determine the effect of diets containing Tra catfish residue meals on total tract apparent digestibility and performance of growing pigs.
Four diets were tested, based on cassava root meal as the energy source: Control diet (FM) was basal diet plus marine fish meal; Diet BM was basal diet plus broken meat catfish by-product meal; Diet OE was basal diet plus oil extracted catfish by-product meal, and Diets BH was basal diet plus bone and head catfish by-product meal. In the first experiment, total tract digestibility was determined in four growing pig in a 4x4 Latin Square design. In the second experiment, the same four diets were fed to 24 growing pigs in a Randomized Complete Block design with four treatments and six replications.
In experiment 1, there were differences among the diets in the coefficients of apparent digestibility of dry matter, crude protein, ether extract and ash, that were the highest in diet BM and lowest in diet BH (P<0.05). Apparent digestibility of organic matter was highest in diet BH (P<0.05). In the second experiment, there were differences in the average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and backfat thickness among diets, with a descending trend from diets BM, OE, FM and BH (P<0.05). FCR in diets BM and OE were lower than in diet FM (P<0.05). However, FCR in diet BH was higher than in diet FM (P<0.05). Furthermore, backfat thickness in diets BM and OE was higher than in diet FM (P<0.05), while diet BH was lower than in diet FM (P<0.05). The iodine number in diet BM was higher than in diet FM (P<0.05), But, values on diet BH was lower than on diet FM (P<0.05). The feed cost per kg weight gain of diet BM was the lowest when compared to the other treatments (P<0.05). The gross income and net benefit per pig fed diet BM were higher than in the other treatments (P<0.05).
It can be concluded that there were differences in the total tract digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and ether extract among the protein sources, with the best values in the diet BM and the worst in diet BH in terms of growth rate. The ADG, FCR and economic benefits of diet BM were highest, followed by OE, FM and BH.