Estimating the Energy Value of Some Feeds for Pigs Using Regression Equations

Abstract

The digestible and metabolizable energy value for pigs of several feeds was estimated. The feedstuffs were fed in various combinations and levels to pigs in metabolism trials and the energy values of the feedstuffs estimated from the equation Y = B1xi + B2x2 + B3X3 + B4X1X2 + B5x1x3 + B6x2x3 Y was the DE or ME value of the diet, X1, x2 etc. the percentage of each feedstuff in the diet and B1, B2 etc. considered as the estimate of the digestible or metabolizable energy value of the feedstuff. Addition of the interaction terms to the linear equation did not significantly reduce the residual variation and this was interpreted to indicate that there were no associative effects among the feedstuff combinations investigated. The energy values obtained were similar to some reported in the literature. There were large ranges in the determined values for some feedstuffs, e.g., soybean meal, wheat bran and warrant further investigation.