Estimating Voluntary Feed Intake of Slow-Growing Pigs Fed Progressive Levels of Diluted Potato Hash Silage

The objective of the study was to determine the effect of varying levels of potato hash silage on feed intake of growing Windsnyer pigs that are domestic in Southern Africa. A sequence and series of diets were formulated from a dilution of control diet (summit mixture) with 400 g/kg of ensiled potato hash diet (dilution mixture) at different proportions. The progressive diets were prepared by blending summit and dilution diets, respectively at different proportions to achieve 80 g/kg (320 g/kg: 80 g/kg), 160 g/kg (240 g/kg: 160 g/kg), 240 g/kg (160 g/kg: 240 g/kg), and 320 g/kg (80 g/kg: 320 g/kg) of ensiled potato hash silage. This produced six diets including summit (control) and dilution (400 g/kg) mixtures. There was a quadratic potato hash silage level effect (P <0.05) on average daily feed intake. As the inclusion levels of potato hash silage increased, the average daily feed intake increased at the increasing rate. Using piecewise regression, the maximum inclusion of potato hash silage was estimated to be 24 g/kg ± 4.72 and the maximum feed intake was predicted at 1.55 kg. The minimum feed intake was estimated at 1.34 kg ± 0.081. The rate of change of avarerage feed intake was estimated to be 0.02 ± 0.009. The estimate of rate of increase of average daily feed intake was -0.002 ± 0.001. As the feed inclusion levels of potato hash increased, the average daily feed intake increased until the gut capacity was reached. Thereafter, the feed intake is reduced. There is a need to determine growth performance response of pigs fed increasing levels of potato hash silage. It is necessary to understand which chemical or physicochemical properties influence feed intake of slow growing pigs as an approach to accutureraly measure feed intake.