Digestibility of a fully hydrogenated tallow for growing pigs

Abstract

Improved growth performance noted in young pigs fed on a diet supplemented with fully hydrogenated tallow flake prompted further investigation of this fat source by means of a digestibility trial. The apparent digestibility of ether extractives was 0.37 and of gross energy 0.80 for a diet containing 5% of the tallow, compared to 0.66 and 0.89 for a control diet. Faeces from pigs fed on the diet with 5% tallow contained 338 g ether extractives/kg DM while faeces from pigs fed on the control diet contained 71 g ether extractives/kg DM. It is probable that the high proportion of C18:0 fatty acid in the material was responsible for its poor digestibility. © 1980.