A total of 24 castrated male Creole were used for digestibility studies on three sugarcane (SC) products: final molasses, SC juice and ground SC. Digestibility of macronutrients were determined in three consecutive experimental trials between 35 and 60 kg BW. The first trial measured the effect of a constant rate of incorporation of those SC products in a control diet (23% on a dry matter (DM) basis) on digestibility of energy and nutrients. The second and the third trials were designed to determine the effects of increasing rates of inclusion of SC juice and ground SC in the control diet on the digestibility of nutrients and energy. The DM content of molasses, SC juice and ground SC were 74.3%, 19.3% and 25.8%, respectively. Free sugar contents were 73.8%, 81.6% and 51.5% of DM for molasses, SC juice and ground SC, respectively. In contrast with molasses and SC juice, NDF content of ground SC was very high (40.3% DM). Energy digestibility coefficients (DC) were 99.0% and 83.6% for SC juice and molasses, respectively. For ground SC, amounts and composition of intakes differed from feed allowance as a consequence of chewing-then-spitting out most of the fibrous contents of ground SC. Expressed as a percentage of energy intake and energy allowance, DC of energy for ground SC were 68.6% and 31.9%, respectively. On an intake basis, digestible energy (DE) and metabolisable energy (ME) values were higher for SC juice (17.3 and 17.2 MJ/kg DM, respectively) than for molasses (13.1 and 12.6 MJ/kg DM, respectively) or ground SC (12.3 and 11.8 MJ/kg DM, respectively). On an allowance basis, the corresponding values for ground SC were only 5.7 and 5.6 MJ/kg DM, respectively. The gradual inclusion rate of SC juice in the diet up to 66% resulted in a linear increase of the DC of the diet organic matter and energy (P , 0.001) by 0.10% per 1% in SC juice DM. On the other hand, the partial substitution of the control diet by ground SC up to 74% resulted in a linear (P , 0.05) reduction of digestibility of nutrients and energy. Each 1% increase of ground SC incorporation rate resulted in a 0.13% and 0.61% linear decrease of DC of the energy, expressed as a percentage of energy intake or energy allowance, respectively. In conclusion, our study provides updated energy values of SC products usable as energy sources for feeding pigs.

The influence of the level of sugarcane (SC) molasses on growth performance, carcass traits, and meat quality in Creole (CR) growing pigs fed with ground sugarcane stalks (GCS)-based diet was studied in a mixed farming system context. The aim of the study was to optimize the growth performance of CR pigs with SC-molasses as an energy source in this unconventional feeding. A total of 32 CR pigs were used from 30 to 60 kg of body weight (BW). The experimental dietary treatments consisted of four levels of inclusion of SC-molasses (200, 400, 600, and 800 g DM/d/pig) into a GCS diet, for diets 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively. The GCS allowance was based on live BW (170 g/kg BW/d) and the diets were supplemented with a soya-bean meal supplement (350 g/d of a 49.2% CP and 16.6 MJ DE/kg). All the pigs were slaughtered at 60 kg BW. Increasing the level of molasses did not affect (p > 0.05) average BW gain (254 g/d), CP intake (154 g/d) and sugar extraction rate from the total ration (85%). A gradual inclusion of molasses in a GCS-based diet did not affect the carcass and meat quality of CR pigs. In conclusion, molasses supplementation does not allow the increase of growth performance in GCS fed pigs.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of a milling by-product diet and two sugar cane diets on the local Creole pig breed (CR). A total of 48 CR pigs (24 females and 24 castrated males) were randomly assigned to four different groups of 12 animals. Pigs were allotted to one of 4 dietary treatments: fed with a control soya-bean meal-corn diet containing 19.1% crude protein (CP) and 15.4 MJ DE/kg (diet 1), with an experimental milling by-product diet (soya-bean meal and wheat by-products) containing 19.4% CP and 13.0 MJ DE/kg (diet 2), with ground cane stalks (GCS) or with fresh sugar cane juice (SCJ). Both GCS and SCJ were supplemented with soya-bean meal complement (400 g/d of a 48.7% CP and 16.1 MJ DE/kg diet) in order to obtain diets 3 and 4, respectively. Pigs were fed close to ad libitum level and had free access to water. All the pigs were slaughtered at 65 kg BW. Between 30 and 65 kg BW, growth performance was significantly (p<0.001) affected by dietary treatments: average daily BW gain was 657, 530, 546 and 200 g/d for diets 1, 2, 4, and 3, respectively. Average daily DM intake was 1.8, 1.9, 2.5 and 1.4 kg/d for diets 1, 2, 4, and 3, respectively. Fat cuts (backfat+leaf fat) and backfat thickness were significantly lower on diet 3 than for other treatments (127 vs. 192, 166 g/kg of left half-carcass weight and 24.6 vs. 39.0, 35.3 mm for diet 3 vs. diets 1 and 4, and diet 2, respectively; p<0.001). The dressing weight was significantly lower on diets 2 (82.7 vs. 84.0%; p<0.001). The entire empty digestive tract (DT) weight was higher on diet 2 (73.1 vs. 66.7 g/kg empty BW). However, stomach and large intestine were more developed on diet 3: 12.8 vs. 9.3 g/100 g empty DT (p<0.001) and 26.4 vs. 23.8 g/100 g empty DT (p<0.05), respectively. In conclusion, this study suggests the CR pig has the ability to reach rather good growth and carcass performance with a well-formulated sugar cane meal and/or with a milling by-product diet refined according to its low requirements.

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Les performances laitières et de reproduction d’un troupeau bovin laitier situé en Guadeloupe (Antilles françaises) sont analysées sur une période allant de 1971 à 1983. Les femelles (de race Frisonne) produisent en moyenne 3425 kg de lait en 302 jours de lactation. Le taux de réussite global atteint 39 %, l’intervalle entre mise bas 393 jours et 1,96 saillies sont nécessaires par conception. Les effets saisonniers sont marqués, en particulier sur la fertilité. Les taux de réussite sont réduits de près de 20 points de pourcentage en septembre-octobre par rapport à la saison sèche (janvier à avril). La production laitière totale et le pic de lactation sont également plus élevés en saison sèche, qui apparaît globalement la période de vêlage la plus favorable. Les variations annuelles sont également importantes et apparaissent extrêmement difficiles à maîtriser. L’amélioration des performances passe notamment par une meilleure exploitation des ressources fourragères et l’emploi de techniques permettant de limiter le stress thermique des femelles.