Seventy two Landrace x Large White barrows were divided into three groups and fed different diets: a control traditional diet based on cereals (C) and two with 15 or 30% dried sugar beet pulp (BP15 and BP30, respectively). Animals weighed 106 kg at start and 167 kg at the end of the experiment. Feeding was restricted (2.5 kg DM/head, on average). The aim of the present experiment was to investigate the influence of high levels of beet pulp in the diet of fattening heavy pigs on some endocrine/metabolic traits, on the slaughter dressing percentage and on some parameters related to meat quality, composition and on the ham quality, after 14 months of seasoning. During the experimental period, jugular vein blood samples were collected from C and BP30-fed pigs and plasma was analysed for several metabolic traits. BP30 diet initially increased the plasma glucose level and decreased free amino acids (P<0.05), but this difference disappeared at the end of the experimental period, when insulin level was decreased (P=0.06) by beet pulp administration. During the entire period, 30% beet pulp diet increased total protein and albumin levels (P<0.001) and decreased urea (P<0.05) without affecting plasma leptin. At slaughter, pigs fed BP30 diet were lighter (P<0.001) and with a lower dressing percentage (P<0.001) in comparison with the other two treatments. Pigs fed BP30 diet also had lower ham and loin weights (P<0.05) (but similar ham and loin percentages) and higher liver weight (P<0.05), liver/carcass ratio (P<0.001), gastrointestinal-tract weight (P<0.001) and gastrointestinal-tract/carcass ratio (P<0.001). Pigs fed C diet had a higher dressing percentage in comparison with pigs fed BP15 diet (P<0.01), but no other significant difference was found between pigs fed diets C and BP15. At slaughter, liver samples were taken from C and BP30-fed pigs in order to evaluate the effect of the diet on liver composition. BP30 diet increased dry liver weight (P<0.05) and liver fat content (P<0.01). The iodine value and the fatty acid composition of the backfat revealed no significant difference between pigs fed the control diet and those fed the high fibre diets. Finally, considering the economic importance of ham production, the characteristics of the seasoned hams were evaluated. No difference was observed on ham quality. In conclusion, feeding a diet with a high percentage of dried sugar beet pulp alters protein and energy metabolism and slaughter parameters, without affecting the quality of the seasoned ham. gruppi C, BP15 e BP30, rispettivamente, SE=0,06, P<0,05), più alto rapporto fegato/carcassa (1,25% vs 1,27% e 1,49%, SE=0,04, P<0,001), maggior peso del digerente (12,3 vs 12,5 e 16,1 kg, SE=0,45, P<0,001) e più alto rapporto digerente/carcassa (8,8% vs 9,1% e 12,4%, SE=0,31, P<0,001). I suini del gruppo C hanno avuto una maggior resa rispetto agli animali del gruppo BP15 (83,3% vs 81,9%, SE=0,36, P<0,01)

The aim of the work was to determine digestibility, nitrogen balance and ammonia emission from excreta, in the typical Italian heavy pig during the last phase of growth, when fed diets with a high fibre content. In comparison with a traditional control diet (C), two diets with 12 and 24% wheat bran (WB12 and WB24) and two other diets with 12 and 24% dried beet pulp (BP12 and BP24) were tested. Totally 76 Landrace x Large White fattening barrows, from 45 to 170 kg live weight distributed in 16 pens, were utilized in the trial. Thirty pigs were allocated to 6 metabolic cages in 5 consecutive periods in order to have 6 observations per treatment. For diets C, WB12 and WB24 daily weight gain (DWG), feed conversion ratio (FCR) and slaughtering performances were also registered, on 20 pigs per dietary treatment. Growing and slaughter performances were similar for pigs fed C and WB12 diets, whilst diet WB24 determined a significant (P<0.05) decrease in performances (growth and feed conversion) in the first period of fattening and a lower dressing percentage at slaughter (85.5, 84.4 and 82.5% for C, WB12 and WB24, respectively). Comparing the diets with the same level of inclusion of the fibrous feeds, WB diets had a lower OM and energy digestibility, while BP diets registered a lower protein but a higher fibre digestibility. Consistently with other experiments, BP diets determined an increase of faecal and a reduction of urinary N, as a percentage of the intake N, as well as a decrease of ammonia emission from the slurries (- 16.6 and -25.3% for BP12 and BP24, in comparison with C diet). For the WB diets the reduction of urinary N and the increase in faecal N were less marked and a reduction of ammonia emissions was not registered

The aim of the experiment was to investigate the ability of the heavy pig to utilize diets rich in fibre. Eight Landrace x
Large White fattening barrows were fed 3 high fibre (HF) diets (on average 17.8% NDF on DM) and a traditional (C) diet
(13.5% NDF) in a Latin Square design. Feeding was restricted. Each of the 4 periods included 21 days adaptation and 7
days digestibility/calorimetry. The HF diets included wheat bran (coarse or milled) or beet pulp. In periods 1, 2, 3 and 4
the eight pigs weighed, on average, 105, 124, 140 and 158 kg. Fibre digestibility (%) of HF diets increased from period
1 to period 4: 56.2, 56.6, 58.8, 62.2 for NDF and 46.0, 47.1, 49.0, 53.4 for ADF. A similar trend was registered for the
digestibility of DM, OM, CP, EE and energy. Comparing the digestibility of diet C with HF diets, independently of the periods,
diet C always had significantly higher digestibility (e.g. DM=87.5 vs 84.9%) except for fibre which gave similar coefficients.
Methane energy losses increased significantly from period 1 to period 4 for HF diets (0.40 vs 0.59% of the intake
energy, IE, P<0.05), while heat production and retained energy (% of IE), did not differ significantly between periods.
Retained energy of diet C (37.1% IE) and of HF diets (35.3%) considered as the average of the four periods, were similar,
confirming that the heavy pig can utilize fibre to a good extent. Considering the N balance of treatment HF, passing
from period 1 to period 4 concomitantly with a lower faecal excretion a significantly greater urinary excretion was recorded:
35.7 and 51.9% of intake N in periods 1 and 4, respectively (P<0.05). Total N excretion was similar in the four periods
(on average 0.98 g/BW0.75). However, expressing the data as % of the intake N, total N excretion increased from period
1 (54.6%) to period 4 (68.2%) (P<0.05). As a consequence, protein deposition (N*6.25) decreased from 155 to 126
g/d from period 1 to period 4 (P<0.05). On the contrary, fat deposition increased, as expected, in the four periods: 315,
359, 374 and 394 g/d

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