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Livestock-Based Farming Systems, Renewable Resources and the Environment |
The objective of the research was to determine the effects of different levels of leaf meal of cassava, paper mulberry and wild sun-flower, as potential sources of protein to replace soyabean meal in maize-based feeds for locally weaned pigs. Thirty six local weaned pigs were used in the study of six dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). There were six piglets per treatment (3 females and 3 castrated males) with an average piglet age of 5 months and average live-weights of 11.1±2.1 kg. The piglets were individually penned for 90 days. The 6 dietary treatments were based on the levels of cassava, paper mulberry and wild sun-flower leaf meal replacement of soyabean meal at rates of 0, 50 and 100%. The 6 dietary treatments were: Control= soyabean meal as source of protein 100%, CLR50= cassava leaf meal replacement of 50% of soyabean meal; CLR100= cassava leaf meal replacement of 100% of soyabean meal; PLR50= paper mulberry leaf meal replacement of 50% of soyabean meal; PLR100= paper mulberry leaf meal replacement of 100% of soyabean meal; WLR50= wild sun-flower leaf meal replacement of 50% of soyabean meal. Daily feed availability was restricted to 4% of body weight, while water was available ad-libitum. The study was undertaken at the National Livestock Research Center within the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute, Vientiane, Lao PDR.
Daily feed intake in terms of percent of body weight in the different dietary treatments, Control, CLR50, CLR100 and PLR50 were not significantly different (p>0.05) (intakes were 4.0, 3.9, 3.8 and 3.7% of body weight, respectively). However, in treatments PLR100 and WLR50 the intakes were lower at 3.1 and 3.3% of body weight, respectively. Average daily gain was significantly different (p<0.05) across the dietary treatments. The control diet using soyabean meal as the protein source had highest daily weight gain of 220g/day, followed by CLR 50 and PLR 50, with daily weight gains of 155 and 120 g/day, respectively. The lowest daily weight gains were from the two treatments WLR50 and PLR100, with 60 and 35 g/day, respectively. The feed conversion rates were not significantly different (p>0.05) among the dietary treatments for the control, CLR 50 and PLR 50 treatments (3.0, 3.7 and 3.8, respectively). However, they were significantly higher for CLR 100, PLR 100 and WLR 50 (6.9, 10.9 and 7.8, respectively). Based on the results of this study can be concluded that the control diet had highest daily weight gain, followed by CLR50 and PLR50. The leaf meal replacement of soyabean meal at rates of 50% or 100% replacement were significantly reduced feed intake and daily weight gain of weaned pigs.
Key words: Soya bean, leaf meals, local weaned pigs, replacement, feed intake and growth rate.