Effect of replacement of maize and rice bran with paddy on the growth performance and carcass traits of growing finishing pigs

S S Sikka

Department of Animal Nutrition, College of Veterinary Science, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, India
sssikka04@rediffmail.com

Abstract

An experiment on weaners of large white Yorkshire breed of pigs was conducted to study the effect of replacing maize with paddy on the growth performance digestibility and carcass traits. Twenty piglets of 2½ months age of similar body weight were grouped in four groups containing three male and two female piglets in each. All the animals were housed in individual pens. A control and three experimental diets PR40, PR50 and PR60 containing 40, 50 and 60 per cent paddy respectively were formulated. The replacement of maize was done on w/w basis. The experimental diets were randomly allocated to four groups. Ad libitum feeding was done individually for a total period of 154 days.

Body weight and average daily gains were not affected during growing phase, however, during finishing phase the effect was significant (P £ 0.05). Both feed consumption and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P £ 0.05) affected with the addition of paddy in both growing and finishing phases. The digestibility coefficient of organic matter and crude fibre significantly (P £ 0.05) reduced with the addition of paddy in the diets. The reducing effect was more pronounced (P £ 0.05) for digestibility of dry matter, crude protein and nitrogen free extract. Significant (P £ 0.05) effect of replacing maize with paddy on loin and belly weights was observed).

From the data it was concluded that growing finishing pigs fed diets with 40 percent paddy showed similar performance as pigs fed control diet containing 50 percent maize.

Key words: Carcass parameters, digestibility, growth, paddy, pig

Introduction

Major recurring expenditure of pig production is on feed. Maize is the main cereal grain used in the pig diets so as to meet their high energy needs as per BIS (1987) specifications. Wheat, barley, oats, rice kani etc. are the alternatives to maize.

Rice grain (Oryza sativa) along with hulls/husk is known as paddy. Paddy seed contains a rough, hard and woody outer covering, called husk which make paddy as such inedible. Husk must be removed to make the rice easy to cook and digest. Rice milling is the process of removing the husk along with a part of bran from paddy. During milling process several by-products viz. rice polish, rice bran, broken rice are available for use as animal feeds (Figure 1).

Broken rice or rice kani has lower nutritive value than maize (Sikka 1990). Rice polish is better in nutritive value than rice bran. Generally rice polish and rice bran are mixed together during milling and their mixture is available for feeding to livestock. Rice bran actually is the mixture of pericarp, seed coat and some of aleurone layer but is highly variable in quality with respect to crude fibre contents depending upon the amount of ground husk mixed in it (Ichhponani et al 1980). Quality of rice bran with respect to crude fibre affects the growth rates and digestibility in growing pigs (Sikka and Chawla 1984) and sows (Garg and Pathak 1983). Rice husk contain 35 percent cellulose, 30 percent lignin, 18 percent pentosans and 17 percent ash. Paddy on an average contains7- 8 percent crude protein, 12-14 percent crude fibre, 2 - 3 percent ether extract, 74-75 percent nitrogen free extract, 36 -38 percent available carbohydrates and is a good source of energy for pigs (Sikka 1990). Keeping in view its chemical composition and the adulteration of rice bran with husk, an attempt was made to use paddy as a replacement of maize alone or along with a part of rice bran in the pig grower and finisher diets.

Materials and methods

Animals and their management

Twenty 2½ months old growing piglets of Large White York Shire (LWY) breed were procured and randomly allotted to four groups. Each group had three males and two females. The grouping was done in a way that all the groups had similar body weight. While grouping it was assured that all the groups had equal number of littermates. Experimental pigs were housed in individual pens (5' x 3' size) with concrete floor provided with separate feeders and waterers.

Diets and feeding

Paddy from the field was procured and ground. Four experimental diets were formulated (Table 1).

Control Diet: Control diet containing 50 percent maize

PR40: Containing 40 per cent ground paddy

PR50: Containing 50 per cent ground paddy

PR60: Containing 60 per cent ground paddy.

Each diet was randomly allocated to one of the experimental groups. Feeding was done individually as two meals a day for a total period of 154 days. Growing period lasted for 98 days and finishing phase for 56 days. Daily feed offered to each pig was recorded.

Digestion Studies

At the end of feeding trial a digestion trial was conducted. During last three consecutive days, known quantity of feed was offered as 4 to 5 meals a day in order to avoid feed wastage. Daily feed consumed by each pig was recorded. Faeces of each pig were collected manually as and when voided. 24 hour faecal material of each pig was mixed thoroughly and dried. The three day dried feaces of each pig was pooled and ground.

Carcass evaluation

Three animals from each treatment were selected and sacrificed (USDA 1970) at the end of feeding trial to study organ development and carcass traits.

Analysis

Paddy, experimental diets and feaces were analyzed for proximate principles (AOAC 1990). Data of body weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, digestibility of nutrients and carcass parameters were subjected to analysis of variance (Snedecor and Cochran 1968).
 

Results and discussion

The chemical composition of the experimental diets revealed a decrease in crude protein, nitrogen free extract and ether extract contents when maize was replaced with paddy (Table 2).

However in thePR60 diet, the protein content was more as compared to diets PR40 and PR50 as a result of increase in the level of groundnut cake and fishmeal in PR60 diet (Table 1). Replacement of maize with paddy increased the crude fibre and total ash contents of the diets (Table 2). Chemical analysis further revealed higher protein content of the control diet than in other diets can be attributed to the differences in the protein content of maize and the ground paddy used to formulate the diets.

Growth performance

Growing phase

The dietary treatments had no effect on the body weight and weight gain of the pigs during the growing phase (Table 3) however significant (P £ 0.05) increase in feed intake was observed.

The feed consumption per animal per day in pigs fed PR50 diet containing 50 per cent paddy was comparable to diet PR 60 but significantly (P£ 0.05) more than control and PR40 diets. Higher feed consumption in pigs receiving diet PR50 and PR60 than that receiving control and diet PR40 can be explained on the basis of low energy content of these diets due to higher crude fibre content (Table 3). It was further observed that feed conversion ratio (FCR) was significantly (P£ 0.05) deteriorated when paddy replaced maize. Significantly (P£ 0.05) better feed conversion ratio in pigs receiving PR60 than PR50 can be explained on the basis of higher protein content with better quality due to the higher contents of both groundnut cake and fish meal. Sikka et al (1987) observed improvement in daily gain with better feed conversion ratio in growing pigs when protein level of the diets was increased. The increase in the feed consumption and deterioration in the FCR in paddy containing diets can be attributed to the low energy content of these diets (Table 2) due to higher crude fibre level in these diets as compared to control diet. Moreover a negative relationship exists between the energy and dietary crude fibre content (Sikka 1990). Bhar et al (2001) reported reduction in feed consumption along with deterioration in FCR due to increase in crude fibre as a result of increase in rice bran of the diet.

Finishing phase

During the latter phase of growth, replacement of maize with paddy significantly (P £ 0.05) reduced the body weight and weight gain of the pigs (Table 4).

Eighty per cent replacement of maize with paddy (PR40 diet) had no significant (P £ 0.05) effect in reducing the weight gain and feed consumption (Table 4). Increasing the paddy level to 50 or 60 percent in the diet significantly (P £ 0.05) reduced both the body weight and daily weight gain in pigs. The feed conversion ratio in pigs fed diets PR50 and PR60was significantly (P £ 0.05) poor than in pigs fed control and PR40 diets (Table 4). Sikka and Chawla (1986) earlier reported reduction in weight gain with poor FCR in finishing pigs with the increase in the level of dietary crude fibre. Soren et al (2003) also observed reduction in daily weight gain and deterioration in feed gain ratio in gilts when they increased the dietary fibre by adding rice bran in the diets.

Nutrient utilisation

Digestibility of organic matter, dry matter and nitrogen free extract was significantly (P £ 0.05) less in PR50 and PR60 diets than in control and PR40 diets (Table 5).

The crude protein digestibility in PR60 diet was significantly (P£ 0.01) less than the control and PR40 diet but significantly (P £ 0.01) more than PR50 diet. The increase in the protein digestibility in pigs fed PR60 diet than PR50 diet can be attributed to the better protein quality and higher protein level in it. Sikka et al (1981) reported an increase in the protein digestibility in growing pigs with increase in the dietary protein level. Crude fibre digestibility in pigs fed PR60 diet was comparable to control diet but significantly (P£ 0.05) less than PR40 and PR50 diets. Crude fibre digestibility in control and PR50; PR40 and PR50 were comparable. Hundred per cent replacement of maize with paddy significantly (P£ 0.05) increased the ether extract digestibility as compared to control and PR40 diets (Table 5). It was further observed that ether extract digestibility in pigs receiving PR60 diet was significantly (P£ 0.05) more than the pigs receiving PR50 diet. Garg and Pathak (1983) also observed similar findings when they increased the dietary crude fibre by adding rice bran in the sow diets.

Better utilisation of nutrients in the control diet than in the other diets can be explained on the basis of higher protein contents and low fibre content in it than other diets. Poor digestibility of nutrients in paddy containing diets can be attributed to the higher crude fibre in these diets (Table 2) which had negative relationship with the digestibility of nutrients in pigs (Sikka et al 1985). The other probable reasons for poor digestibility can be attributed to the protective influence of crude fibre against the digestion of all the nutrients, the gel forming properties of poly saccharides (Murray 1976) and the faster rate of passage of the digesta through the G - 1- tract (Laplace 1975; Kass et al 1980).

Carcass parameters

Dietary treatments had no significant (P£ 0.05) effect on dressing per cent, per cent drift, carcass length and back fat thickness of the pigs (table 6).

It was observed that the average back fat thickness reduced linearly with the increase in the level of paddy in the diet. Reduction in the average back fat thickness with increase in dietary crude fibre is in agreement with the earlier reports of Sikka et al (1985) and Sikka and Chawla (1986). Loin eye muscle area also reduced with the replacement of maize. The loin eye muscle area of pigs fed PR60 diet was comparable with control group but more than in pigs fed PR40 and PR50 diets probably due to more and better quality proteins available to the pigs fed PR60 diet. Among the various primal cuts the dietary treatments significantly (P£ 0.05) affected the loin and belly weights. Pigs fed PR60 diet had comparable loin weight with pigs fed PR40 diet but significantly (P£ 0.05) more than other dietary treatments. The belly weight of pigs fed control, PR40 and PR50 diets were comparable to each but significantly less than in pigs fed PR60 diet (Table 6). From the data it was concluded that growing finishing pigs fed diets with 40 percent paddy showed similar performance as pigs fed control diet containing 50 percent maize.
 

References

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Received 9 June 2006; Accepted 8 June 2007; Published 6 July 2007

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