Nutritional Value of Diets for Pigs Including BT Sorghum, Peas and Canola Expeller

Abstract

In a test of fecal apparent digestibility (FAD) and protein metabolism in rearing pigs six isoproteic and isocaloric diets with different components were studied: T1 (control): corn and soybean meal (SM); T2: corn + 11 % of SM + 23 % peas (P) + 12,5 % canola expeller (C); T3: corn + 5 % of SM + 30 % P + 16.3 % C; T4: low tannin (LT) sorghum + SM; T5: LT sorghum + 13 % of SM + 13,5 % P + 15 % C; T6: LT sorghum + 5 % of SM + 35 % P + 15,3 % C. Four pigs per treatment, with an average weight of 43.43 kg, housed in individual digestibility cages were used. The experimental period comprised seven days of habituation and five days of collection. The consumption level was established to make a contribution of 2.4 times the energy requirement for maintenance. Total collection of feces and urine was performed. We determined the FAD of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and gross energy (GE) as well as the apparent biological value of the protein (VB), and the apparent net protein value (NPV) of diets. LT sorghum diets were higher in FAD of the MS and EB. There were no differences in protein value between diets. We concluded that it is possible to totally replace the corn by LT sorghum in diets for growing pigs, and that the combination of peas and canola expeller can replace up to 83 % of the soybean meal maintaining the levels of lysine and sulfur amino acids, without affecting its nutritional contribution.