Effect of feeding palm oil sludge as partial replacement of maize in growing-finishing pigs on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility and blood profiles S

Abstract

The study was conducted to investigate the effect of dietary inclusion of palm oil sludge (POS) as partial replacement of maize in growing-finishing pigs on growth performance, nutrient digestibility and blood profiles. Twenty four crossbred (Large White Yorkshire x Hampshire) pigs of mixed sex (3-4 months of age) with initial body weight of 40.09±1.01 kg were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments in a randomised block design. Palm oil sludge was included in the diets at 0% (Group-1, control), 10% (Group-2), 20% (Group-3) and 30% (Group-4) to replace maize as energy source. The body weight gain, average daily feed intake, average daily gain and feed conversion ratio were similar across the treatment groups. The inclusion of POS in the diets had no effect on the haematological parameters, serum metabolites and lipid profile. The digestibility coefficient adverse of ether extract (EE) and crude fibre (CF) were not affected by dietary POS supplementation but dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), CF and nitrogen free extract (NFE) revealed significant (p<0.05) difference among the various treatment groups. In conclusion, POS can replace maize up to 30% in the concentrate diets without any detrimental effects on the growth performance, nutrient utilisation and blood biochemical parameters of growing-finishing pigs. LE IN PR