Growing pigs fed cassava peel based diet supplemented with or without Farmazyme® 3000 proenx: Effect on growth, carcass and blood parameters
Keywords:
Cassava peels, growing pigs, non-starch polysaccharides, exogenous enzyme, pig feeding.Abstract
36 growing pigs (average initial weight of 22.74 ± 0.88 kg) were allotted to three dietary treatment groups of
30%maize-based control diet and 30%cassava-peel-based diet supplemented with or without Farmazyme 3000
proenx. Each treatment had three replicates of 4 pigs/replicate (12 pigs/treatment) in a complete randomized
design. The pigs were allowed AD LIBITUM access to the diets and water throughout the 42-day duration of the
trial. The replacement of the 30% maize in the control diet with cassava peel resulted in increased bulkiness and
crude fiber contents of the cassava peel-based diets, hence, lowered energy content. There was also a reduction
in the dry matter intake of the pigs and the cost of feed per kg intake by 19.6 and 23.5% for the cassava peel
based diet with and without Farmazyme inclusion, respectively. The replacement of the maize content of the
control diet with cassava peel resulted in 23 to 24% reduction in the cost of feed per kg live weight gain of the
growing pigs. Farmazyme resulted in enhanced utilization (P < 0.05) of the cassava peel-based diet in terms of
the daily and overall weight gains as well as the serum total protein, albumin, urea and cholesterol. While the
heamoglobin and red blood cell (RBC) of the pigs were significantly positively influenced by the inclusion of the
enzyme, it had no effect on the packed cell volume (PCV). The blood minerals (Na, Ca, Cl and P), relative organ
weights and dressing percentage of the pigs were neither affected by the cassava peel replacement nor the
enzyme inclusion but for the kidney, where lower values were obtained both for the control and Farmazyme
supplemented cassava peel-based diets. It could therefore be concluded that, inclusion of Farmazyme 3000
proenx enhanced utilization of the cassava peel-based diet thereby, resulting in performance results comparable
to pigs fed the maize-based control diet.
