Amino acid supplementation of high copra meal diets for growing-finishing pigs

Average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ration (FCR), duration of feeding (DF), and loin eye area (LEA) of animals on copra meal diet with 4 amino acid supplements (CLMThT) were significantly better than animals on copra meal diets with 2 or 3 amino acid supplements. ADG, FCR, DF and LEA in the CLMThT) diet were 26.8, 20.2, 21.0 and 21.0%, respectively, better than diet C (negative control). The performance of pigs on CLMThT diet was comparable to pigs on corn-soy diet. The copra meal diet with 4 amino acid supplements (CLMThT) was significantly better than the other copra meal diets in improving apparent digestion coefficient of dry matter (ADCDM) and crude protein (ADCCP), digestible and metabolizable energy content of diets, apparent biological value (BV), net protein utilization (NPU) and pigs' blood urea-N (BUN) content. However, CLMThT diet was significantly poorer than corn-soy diet in ADCDM, ADCCP, NPU and BUN values. The pigs on CLMThT diet had significantly larger loin eye area and higher lean cut yield than pigs on copra meal diet without amino acid supplement. However, they were only slightly better than the pigs on copra meal diets with 2 or 3 amino acid supplements and as good as the pigs on corn-soy diet. In addition, they had significantly lower lean fat than pigs on the other treatments. Pigs on copra meal diets had significantly firmer fat and more saturated fatty acids than pigs on corn-soy diet. Dressing percentage, marbling, lean firmness, color, pH of lean and acid value of backfat did not differ significantly among treatment groups. Corn-soy and hi-CLMThT diets were comparable in average daily gain, feed conversion ratio, lean cut yield, amino acids and energy intake. However, the pigs on hi-CLMThT diet had slightly larger loin eye area and thinner backfat thickness than pigs fed with corn-soy diet. Evaluation results showed that 40% copra meal with lysine methionine, threonine and tryptophan supplement can replace soybean meal up to 57% and 100% in diets for growing and finishing pigs, respectively.