Utilization of High Quality Cassava Peel (HQCP) Mash As an Alternative Source of Energy in Weaned Pigs Diet

A growth trial was carried out with weaned crossbred (Large white × Landrace) pigs to determine the replacement value of high quality cassava peel (HQCP) fine mash for maize and its optimal dietary inclusion levels in weaned pig’s diet. One hundred and five weaned pigs with average initial weight of 7.45 ± 0.17 kg (±SEM) were allotted to five dietary treatment groups comprising 7 pigs per replicate and 3 replicates per treatment in a completely randomized design. Dietary treatments consisted of T1 - control diet with 40% maize without HQCP, while HQCP replaced maize at 7.5, 15, 22.5 and 30% to constitute T2, T3, T4 and T5 respectively. The daily feed intake and weekly body weights were recorded throughout the 70-day study period. Pigs on the control diet had significantly (P<0.05) higher daily gains and feed intake compared to the other treatment groups (Table 1). Daily gain and feed intake tended to decrease linearly with increasing levels of HQCP. However, feed efficiency was comparable at the 0 (control), 7.5 and 15% HQCP groups. Pigs on 22.5 and 30% HQCP levels had significantly (P<0.05) lower feed efficiency compared to pigs on replacement levels up to 15%. It could be concluded that, HQCP was inferior to maize grains for optimum performance of the weaned pigs, hence, the possible need for energy and protein fortification to match the nutrient profile of the maize grains, however, in terms of the feed efficiency, HQCP demonstrated potential for replacement of up to 15% of the 40% maize inclusion.

Table 1: Performance of weaned pigs fed diets containing graded levels of HQCP

Parameters	0%HQCP	7.5%HQCP	15%HQCP	22.5%HQCP	30%HQCP	±SEM
Initial weight (kg)	7.59	7.81	7.36	7.36	7.12	0.17
Final weight (kg)	24.62a	22.00ab	19.49bc	17.84cd	15.57d	0.60
Body weight gain (kg)	17.05a	14.19b	12.12bc	10.52c	8.45d	0.47
Daily weight gain (g)	243.5a	202.72b	173.13bc	150.26cd	120.75d	6.77
Average Daily feed intake (g)	661.65a	579.25ab	502.14b	511.52b	398.53c	17.03
Feed Efficiency	0.37­a	0.34a	0.35a	0.29b	0.30b	0.01