Vol. 6, Issue 5, Part A (2021)

Author(s): Ngugi DM, Kashongwe OB and King’ori AM

Abstract: A feeding trial was conducted to investigate the effect of inclusion of enzyme treated ground Prosopis juliflora pod meal (PPM) on the performances of growing pigs. Thirty Landrace x Large white crosses of 20±3 kg with an equal number of barrows and gilts were allotted to five treatment diets in a randomized block design with each treatment having six pigs. The dietary treatments were: Trt1 - containing 0% PPM and 0.035% Enzyme per kg of diet, Trt2 - containing 0% PPM and 0% Enzyme, Trt3 - containing 10% PPM and 0.035% Enzyme, and Trt4 - containing 20% PPM and 0.035%Enzyme, Trt5;diet containing 30% PPM and 0.035% Enzyme per kg of diet, respectively. The multi-enzyme Natuzyme® was added to the dietary treatment according to manufacturer’s instructions at a rate of 350mg/kg feed material. Feed intake, feed conversion ratio and body weight gain was collected. For the economics analysis, inclusion of enzyme treated Prosopis pod meal calculation was based on the weight gain and feed intake obtained from feeding trial. The objective was to determine the cost of including treated mature Prosopis juliflora pod meal in growing pig’s diets. Total feed cost was then calculated as the product of feed intake per pig and the cost per kg of each treatment diet. Total feed cost per kilogram gain of each treatment was calculated as the total feed cost divided by the body weight gain of each pig per treatment diet. Data was analysed using SAS 9.0 (2002) using a one way analysis of variance. Means separation was conducted using Tukey’s HSD. From the results Trt5 (124.54 KES/kg) resulted to the lowest feed cost per kilogram gain compared to Trt2, Trt3 and Trt4 (132.20 KES/kg). Enzyme inclusion resulted to a lower feed cost per kilogram gain when Trt1 (111.13 KES/kg) compared to Trt2 (140.80 KES/kg) p<0.05. Inclusion of PPM with Natuzyme® multi-enzyme complex at 30% resulted to the lowest cost of production compared to other diets containing Prosopis juliflora. The inclusion of enzyme on the diets lowered the cost per kg weight gain.

DOI: 10.22271/veterinary.2021.v6.i5a.376