Impact of fibre intake and fibre source on digestibility, gut development, retention time and growth performance of indigenous and exotic pigs

Abstract

The impact of fibre level and fibre source on digestibility, gastrointestinal tract (GIT) development, total tract mean retention time (MRT) and growth performance was studied in indigenous Mong Cai (MC) and exotic Landrace 3 Yorkshire (LY) pigs. The diets were based on maize, rice bran, soyabean meal, fish meal and soyabean oil, and cassava residue (CR) or brewer's grain (BG) as fibrous ingredient sources in the high-fibre diets (HF) and were fed ad libitum. A low-fibre diet (LF), containing around 200 g NDF/kg dry matter (DM), was formulated without CR and BG as feed ingredients. The HF diets (HF-CR and HF-BG) were formulated to contain around 270 g NDF/kg DM. The experiment was arranged as a 2 3 3 factorial completely randomized design with six replications, and lasted 27 days. Increased dietary fibre level resulted in a reduction (P , 0.05) in average daily gain, digestibility of organic matter (OM), CP and gross energy (GE) at the ileum and in the total tract, and in MRT, and an increase (P , 0.05) in the feed conversion ratio and in the weight of the GIT (except for small intestine and caecum). The coefficients of total tract digestibility of fibre fractions were higher in HF diets than in the LF diet, with highest values for diet HF-CR, which had a high proportion of soluble non-starch polysaccharides. MC pigs had longer MRT of digesta than LY pigs (P , 0.05), resulting in higher digestibility at the ileum and in the total tract. Across diets and breeds, the total tract apparent digestibility of OM, CP and GE was positively related (R 2 5 0.80 to 0.84) to the MRT of solids, whereas the MRT was negatively related to the DM intake (R 2 5 0.60).

Forage plants as an alternative feed resource for sustainable pig production in the tropics: a review

“…Other studies showed similar trends (Len et al, 2009b;Ngoc et al, 2013). Khieu et al (2005) with Mong Cai found a higher digestibility by local breeds but only for the fibre fraction of the feed.…”

“…The results of a literature overview on the comparison of indigenous and improved breeds regarding TTAD and DM intake when fed on fibre-rich diets are displayed in Table 5. When Zimbabwean Mukota (Ndindana et al, 2002) and Vietnamese Mong Cai (Ngoc et al, 2013) were compared with Large White pigs, those breeds showed no difference in intake levels when fed a high-fibre diet. However, in other studies, Mong Cai pigs consumed more (70 v. 60 and 85 v. 78 g/kg metabolic BW) compared with improved pigs (Landrace × Yorkshire) (Len et al, 2009a and2009b).…”

“…These observations on Iberian pigs could apply to tropical pig breeds, especially those from Latin America. The high fibre digestibility of native breeds is also explained by a better adaptation to the high fibre content ascribable to high digestive enzyme activity and better adaptation of hindgut microbiota to degrade cell wall constituents of the diet (Freire et al, 1998 and, greater size of the gastrointestinal tract and longer retention time (Ngoc et al, 2013). The ability of indigenous pigs to digest fibrous fractions is more pronounced in high-fibre diets (Len et al, 2009b), which takes place in the hindgut because ileal digestibility of a high-fibre diet is usually similar between breeds in the same trial.…”

“…The ability of indigenous pigs to digest fibrous fractions is more pronounced in high-fibre diets (Len et al, 2009b), which takes place in the hindgut because ileal digestibility of a high-fibre diet is usually similar between breeds in the same trial. Finally, tropical breeds have a lower average daily gain (ADG) and a poorer feed conversion potential (1.86 v. 1.50 (Len et al, 2009a), 2.27 v. 2.05 (Ngoc et al, 2013) and 4.6 v. 2.9 ) than improved ones even on high-fibre diets. As reviewed by Ly (2008) for Cuban and other Creole breeds, indigenous pigs have lower N retention per N intake (e.g.…”

Characterization of smallholder pig breeding practices within a rural commune of North Central Vietnam

“…This scheme is rationalized by the recent study showing better feed digestibility in Mong Cai than exotic pigs (Ngoc et al 2013). That a number of households also produce pure-bred Mong Cai is reassuring in terms of the requirement for replacement sows.…”