Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment

The effect of dietary carob pods on nutrient digestibility in weaning, growing and fattening periods of pigs

Author(s):

Nikolaos V. Kotrotsios ¹, Efterpi V. Christaki ², Eleftherios M. Bonos ², Panagiota C. Florou-Paneri ^2*

Recieved Date: 2010-07-02, Accepted Date: 2010-10-30

Abstract:

A total of 160 weaning piglets, 30 days old, were divided into four equal groups (A, B, C, D) with four subgroups of 10 animals each, in order to investigate the effect of the dietary inclusion of carob pods of Greek origin on nutrient digestibility during weaning, growing and fattening periods of pigs. The whole experimentation lasted 150 days. Carob pods containing 48.9 g kg^-1 total phenolic compounds and 35.1 g kg^-1 total tannins (expressed as tannic acid equivalent) and 9.7 g kg^-1 condensed tannins (expressed as leukocyanidine equivalent) were included in graded levels - 0, 75, 100 and 125 g kg^-1, in the feed of groups A, B, C and D, respectively. The apparent digestibility (AD) of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), crude fibre (CF) and ash (AS) were determined by 8 total faecal collections (2 in weaning, 4 in growing and 2 in fattening periods). Regression analysis of the results showed that the increase of the inclusion rate of carob pods significantly decreased the AD of DM, CP, EE, CF and AS during the weaning and growing period, whereas during the fattening period AD of DM, CP and CF decreased significantly. Moreover, according to the overall results the decrease of AD was significant for all examined nutrients.

Keywords:

Carob pods, tannins, apparent digestibility, dry matter, crude protein, ether extract, crude fibre, ash, pig

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Journal: Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment
Year: 2010
Volume: 8
Issue: 3&4
Category: Agriculture
Pages: 779-782

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