Dietary kapok seed meal supplementation improved meat quality without adverse effects on growth performance in finishing pigs

Abstract Text: Ninety six crossbred [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc] finishing pigs with an average initial body weight (BW) of 67.02 ± 1.46 kg were used in this ten-week feeding trial to evaluate effects of dietary kapok seed meal (KSM) supplementation in finishing pigs. Pigs were randomly allotted into three dietary treatments (8 replicates/treatment and 4 pigs/pen). The dietary treatments were: 1) CON, basal diet; 2) K1.5, CON + 1.5% KSM; 3), K3.0, CON + 3.0% KSM. Pigs were weighed at the beginning and at the end of week 5 and 10 of experimental period while feed consumption was recorded to calculate ADG, ADFI, and G:F. At the beginning of the experiment, two pigs were randomly selected from each pen, and blood samples were taken by jugular venipuncture. The same pigs were again bled at the week 5 and 10. At the end of the experiment, the same two pigs were transported to the abattoir for slaughter and meat sample was taken for late meat quality analysis. Data were analyzed using the GLM procedure of SAS (1996, SAS Inst., Inc., Cary, NC). Polynomial contrasts were used to determine linear effect of increasing kapok seed meal levels on all measurements. Overall, ADFI linearly decreased (P < 0.05) with the increase level of dietary KSM supplementation. KSM groups elevated concentration of LDL in blood at week 10 (P < 0.05). Moreover, meat color in sensory evaluation linearly increased (P < 0.05) as dietary KSM concentration increased. Myristic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, linolenic aid, saturated fatty acids (SFA) and saturated fatty acids/polyunsaturated fatty acids (SFA/PUFA) ratio linearly increased (P < 0.05) as dietary KSM concentration increased, however, palmitoleic acid and oleic acid linearly decreased (P< 0.05). Present study results indicated that finishing pig supplemented with 3% KSM could improve meat quality and enhance the content of fatty acids of carcass fats and muscle without any adverse effects on ADG or G:F ratio.

Keywords: finishing pigs, growth performance, kapok seed meal