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Workshop-seminar "Making better  use of local feed resources" SAREC-UAF,  January , 2000

Evaluation of the reproductive performance of an indigenous pig breed in Vietnam (Mong Cai) and a cross-breed fed on local and conventional feeds

 

Lam Quang Nga, Ulf Magnusson^* and Brian Ogle^*

 

Faculty of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, College of Agriculture and Forestry, National University of Ho Chi Minh City, VietNam
^* Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, S-75007, Uppsala, Sweden.

 

Abstract

A feeding experiment was conducted at the experimental pig farm, University of Agriculture and Forestry of Ho Chi Minh City to evaluate the effect of feeding cassava leaf meal (CLM) and water spinach (WS) on reproductive performance of twenty sows of Mong Cai and crosses with exotic boars (MongCai x Yorkshire). The experiment was designed as a 2*2 factorial with two breeds and two dietary treatments. One group of each breed received the experimental diet with protein from cassava leaf meal and water spinach; the other group was fed a control diet with protein from soyabean meal.

 

Litter size (9.8 vs 8.9), total litter weight (5.8 vs 6.0 kg) and piglet mortality rates (8.4 and 8.9%) were not significantly different between the cassava leaf meal / water spinach and control diet, respectively. The total litter weight at weaning (65.2 and 67.2 kg) was slightly lower for the sows given the cassava leaf meal / water spinach diet. The weight loss during lactation was higher (P=0.03) and time from weaning to oestrous was longer  (P=0.02) for the cassava leaf meal / water spinach diet compared with the control (13.7 vs 11.7 kg  and 21.7 vs 12.7 days, respectively).

 

Mean litter size was 8.9 vs 9.8, total  litter weight was 5.2 vs 6.6 kg at birth (P>0.05) for the MongCai and LargeWhite sows, respectively. At  weaning, the litter size was 8.1 and 8.0, litter weight was 62.7 and 70.1 kg (P>0.05) for the MongCai and LargeWhite sows, respectively. The weight loss of the MongCai and LargeWhite sows (12.6 kg vs 12.8 kg) in lactation was not significantly different (P>0.05) but the time from weaning to oestrous was lower for the MongCai with 15.8 days vs 18.6 days (P>0.05).

 

Key words: Pigs, cassava leaf meal, water spinach, LargeWhite, MongCai, reproductive performance

Introduction

Cassava is an important crop in tropical countries. In VietNam, it is the second crop after rice with about 350,000 ha planted each year. The potential yields of cassava leaves as a field residue at root harvesting may amount to as much as 4-5 tonnes dry matter per hectare (Ravindran and Rajaguru 1988). If cassava is grown as foliage, it can give 41 tonnes/ha  of green foliage which can be converted to about 12 tonnes of cassava hay.  The protein content of the dry matter of the cassava leaf is about 22%. Therefore from one hectare of cassava it is possible to obtain almost 2,500 kg of protein (Wanapat et al 1997.

 

Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) is a water and marsh plant with creeping, hollow, water-filled stems and shiny green leaves. It is cultivated for food and used as pig and cattle feed throughout Southeast Asia. The fresh leaves and stems of water spinach have a crude protein content of around 28% of DM.  The ash concentration is also high, around 19% of  the dry matter ( Göhl 1998). It has been used successfully to replace part of the protein in a diet of sugar cane juice for breeding sows (Le Thi Men and Bui Hong Van 1994).

 

The hypothesis behind the present experiment is that an indigenous pig breed such as the MongCai may be able to utilize cassava leaf meal and water spinach more efficiently than pigs of an exotic breed. To test this hypotheis, studies were initiated with the aim to evaluate the effects on reproduction performance of feeding cassava leaf meal and water spinach to pregnant MongCai and LargeWhite sows.

 

Materials and methods

Experimental design and pigs

The experiment included 10 MongCai and 10 LargeWhite sows and was designed as a 2*2 factorial with two breeds and two dietary treatments. The dietary treatments were:

• Control: Conventional diet
• CLM /WS: Local resources diet

The sows were allocated at random to the treatments after mating three weeks with the same MongCai boar for MongCai breed and with the same Yorkshire boar by AI for LargeWhite breed.

 

Diets and feeding

The diets were composed of rice bran, cassava root meal, maize, broken rice, soyabean meal, copra meal, fish meal, cassava leaf meal and water spinach. Rice bran and broken rice were bought from the local rice mill.  Cassava root meal, soyabean meal, copra meal and fish meal were bought locally. Water spinach was planted in the field. The cassava leaves were collected at the same time from one field after harvesting the roots. The leaves were air dried and ground.

 

The proportions of the ingredients in the diets, the feed intake and the protein content of the diets are in Table 1. Soyabean meal and copra meal were the protein sources in the control diet. The protein source in the experimental diet was cassava leaf meal and water spinach. The daily allowances were based on the mean live weights of the sows.

 

 

The sows were kept in individual pens. Three weeks after mating, the sows were fed the experimental diets, which were given in restricted amounts (for the concentrate) twice daily in the morning and afternoon. Fresh clean chopped water spinach was offered to the CLM / WS sows two times per day. The amount of feed and water spinach consumed was recorded.

 

The lactating sows were fed amounts of concentrate according to the litter size (1.5 kg plus 0.3 kg/piglet). Sows were given only very small amounts of water spinach (1 kg/d) for the first two weeks after farrowing, as they were reluctant to consume larger amounts. Then they were given 4-6 kg of fresh water spinach/day divided between two feeds,  the amount being restricted because of fears of piglet diarrhoea. Piglets were given the same complete comcentrate creep diet for each treatment.

Measurements

The parameters recorded were:

·        Litter size and weight at birth, and at weaning (49 days)

·        Piglet mortality

·        Sow weight changes

·        Time from weaning to oestrous.

 

Results and discussion

 

Chemical composition of diets and ingredients

The chemical composition of the diet ingredients are in Table 1. During the experimental period, there were only small changes in the chemical composition of cassava leaf meal and water spinach.

 

Reproductive performance of the sows

Effect of diet:

Litter size (9.8 vs 8.9), total litter weight (5.8 vs 6.0 kg) and piglet mortality rates (8.4 and 8.9%) were not significantly different between the cassava leaf meal / water spinach and control diet, respectively. The total litter weight at weaning (65.2 and 67.2 kg) was slightly lower for the sows given the cassava leaf meal / water spinach diet. The weight loss during lactation was higher (P=0.03) and time from weaning to oestrous was longer  (P=0.02) for the cassava leaf meal / water spinach diet compared with the control (13.7 vs 11.7 kg  and 21.7 vs 12.7 days, respectively).

 

Effect of breed:

Mean litter size was 8.9 vs 9.8, total  litter weight was 5.2 vs 6.6 kg at birth (P>0.05) for the MongCai and LargeWhite sows, respectively. At  weaning, the litter size was 8.1 and 8.0, litter weight was 62.7 and 70.1 kg (P>0.05) for the MongCai and LargeWhite sows, respectively. The weight loss of the MongCai and LargeWhite sows (12.6 kg vs 12.8 kg) in lactation was not significantly different (P>0.05) but the time from weaning to oestrous was lower for the MongCai with 15.8 days vs 18.6 days (P<0.05).

 

Mortality rates were not affected by treatments, for cassava leaf meal and water spinach diet and control diet with 8.4% and 8.9% respectively. The total litter weight at weaning was lower for the sows given cassava leaf meal and water spinach diet, 65.2 kg and 67.2 kg respectively.

 

 

 

 

Conclusion

The results of the experiments show that cassava leaf meal and water spinach can be used to replace soyabean meal in diets for breeding sows. Reproductive performance of the two breeds was similar, except for heavier litter weights at birth from the Large White sows.

 

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA/SAREC) for financing this study. We are also grateful to the University of Agriculture and Forestry Ho Chi Minh City for use of their facilities.

 

References

AOAC  1990 Official methods of analysis of the Association of Official Analytical Chemist (15^th Edn.), Washington, DC. 1: 69-90.

Göhl  B  1981 Tropical feeds. FAO Animal Production and Health Series. No. 12.

Le Thi Men and Bui Hong Van 1994 Evaluation of diets based on simulated sugarcane juice and water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) for breeding sows. In Sustainable Livestock Production on Local Feed Resources (EditorsL T R Preston and R B Ogle). Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Le Thi Men, Brian Ogle and Vo Van Son 2000 Evaluation of water spinach as a protein source for Ba Xuyen and Large White sows. In: Proceedings Seminar-Workshop “Making better use local feed resources” (Editors: T R Preston and R B Ogle). SAREC-UAF, Ho Chi Minh City, January 2000
Ravindran  V and Rajaguru  A S B 1988 Effect of stem pruning on cassava root yield and leaf growth. Sri Lankan Journal of Agricultural Science. 25: 32-37.   

Wanapat M, Pimpa O, Petlum A and Boontao U 1997 Cassava hay: A new strategic feed for ruminants during the dry season. Livestock Research for Rural Development (9) 2:
http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd9/2/metha92

 

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