DIGESTIBILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF OAC WINTRI TRITICALE BY GROWING PIGS

Abstract

The digestibility and acceptability of OAC Wintri triticale were evaluated in two trials. In trial 1, three diets in which triticale replaced 0, 50 or 100% of corn were fed to 12 barrows individually housed in digestion crates. No significant difference was observed in dry matter digestibility among diets. Daily fecal nitrogen, daily absorbed nitrogen and apparent protein digestibility adjusted to equal nitrogen intake responded quadratically (P < 0.01) to increasing levels of triticale in the diets. There were no significant differences in daily retained nitrogen, apparent biological value or net protein utilization among diets. Gross energy digestibility, digestible energy (MJ kg−1) or metabolizable energy (MJ kg−1) were not different among diets. The second trial involved pair-feeding 48 pigs (average initial weight 36.7 kg) for 28 d to ascertain the acceptability of triticale to pigs utilizing the same diets as in trial 1. Increasing levels of dietary triticale resulted in a linear reduction (P < 0.001) in feed consumption and growth rate with pigs fed ad libitum. Feed efficiency was poorest when pigs consumed the highest level of triticale. The pair-feeding experiment indicated that pigs fed the diet in which triticale replaced 100% of the corn had a lower growth rate than pigs fed the corn diet even though feed intake on the two diets was similar. In summary therefore, all diets had a similar digestibility. OAC Wintri triticale was less acceptable to pigs, presumably due to poorer palatability, and resulted in lower daily gain than corn. The pair-feeding trial indicated that unknown antinutritional factors may be responsible for part of the poor performance of pigs fed this variety of triticale. Key words: OAC Wintri triticale, digestibility, acceptability, performance, growing pigs