Nutritive and economic values of energy grain sources for growing-finishing pigs

Abstract

Forty-eight pigs (24 barrows and 24 gilts) were used in a 75-d growth experiment to examine the effects of local yellow corn, US soft red winter wheat, and US sorghum #2 as energy grain sources in starter, grower, and finisher diets on the production performance and carcass characteristics of growing-finishing pigs that weighed 26.7-88.5 kg. Corn grain was used as the base energy source and wheat and sorghum were used as replacements for corn on an equal-weight basis. Throughout the feeding trial, the three grain sources did not significantly influence the production performance and carcass traits of pigs. However, data suggested that pigs fed corn grain in combination with sorghum gave better performance than pigs fed other grains or grain combinations. These pigs tended to be heavier and had better weight gain and feed efficiency. Compared to the corn diet, the corn + sorghum combination had a feeding value of 103.00% in final weight (FW), 102.20% in average daily gain (ADG), and 101.82% in feed to gain ratio (F/G). Pigs fed corn in combination with wheat or sorghum tended to have better carcass quality in terms of lower backfat depth, higher % fat-free lean, and better marbling score. Compared to the control diet, feed cost to gain ratio (FC/G) was significantly lower (p<0.05) in sorghum (12.12%), corn + sorghum (9.78%), sorghum + wheat (9.08%) and wheat-based (8.97%) diets. Based on the results, sorghum and wheat can partially or totally be used to replace corn in the diets without significantly affecting the performance and carcass quality of growing-finishing pigs.

Source or Periodical Title

Philippine Agricultural Scientist

ISSN

317454

Page

47-56

Document Type

Article

Subject

Carcass quality, Corn, Feed cost per gain, Feed efficiency, Gain, Soft red winter wheat, Sorghum

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