Breed Response to Different Dietary Energy-Protein Ratios in Weaner Pigs in the Tropics
2024
Jesuyon, O.M. | Bello, O.M.
The study was conducted to determine response of the Pig breed to three dietary energy-protein ratios (EPR) in feed. A total of 27 weaned piglets, eight weeks old, of three breeds consisting of 9 piglets per breed, were used in a four-week feeding trial. Three piglets were randomly allocated from each breed to pen and replicated thrice. Two standard EPR diets: 151:1 and 163:1, were compared with the existing farm diet of 123:1. Pigs were fed at 5% of previous week’s body weight to prevent excessive feeding. Water was provided ad-libitum with automatic waterers. Traits examined were average daily feed intake (ADI, g/day), average daily gain (ADG, g/day), feed efficiency ratio (FER, %), and economic efficiency of meat production (EEM, ₦/Kg), body length (BL, cm), neck circumference (NCF, cm), heart girth (HGH, cm), pouch girth (PGH, cm), wither’s width (WTW, cm), Withers to tail length (WTL, cm), Canon bone circumference (CBC, cm) and height at wither (HTW, cm). The Completely Randomized Design in factorial treatment arrangement was used. The General Linear Model (GLM) procedure of SAS® version 8.0 along with Dunette’s Test (α=0.05) was employed. Landrace performed best on productivity and body traits (P <0.05). EPR 163:1 diet produced most superior body development as ADG, FER, NFC, WTL, HGH, PGH, and HWT were significantly (P <0.05) higher than on other diets. Interaction of breed and EPR revealed that Large white reported highest ADG and FER at least EEM on diet 123:1. Landrace and Camborough produced superior ADG and FER on 163:1 EPR diet (P <0.05). Breeds expressed best body traits development on the 151:1 diet.
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