Growth Performance and Nutrient Digestibility of Growing Pigs Fed Cassava Peel Meal Based Diets Treated with Exogenous Enzyme

A feeding trial was conducted to evaluate the growth performance and nutrient digestibility of grower-finisher pigs fed diets containing 0 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 % levels of cassava peel meal treated with 0.035gNatuzyme®/100g CPM. Sixteen (16) pure bred male Landrace grower-finisher pigs, averaging 31.80kg were allotted to four dietary treatments in a completely randomized design such that each pig was housed and fed individually as a replicate. Four experimental diets T1, T2, T3 and T4 were formulated and 0 %, 50 %, 75% and 100% maize was replaced with Natuzyme® treated cassava peel meal and fed until the pigs reached 60kg ±2kg live weight. At the end of the feeding trial which lasted for 7, 7,8 and 9 weeks for treatment T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively, two pigs from each dietary treatment were randomly selected and starved for 24hours;faecal samples were collected for seven days, oven dried, weighed and sampled for digestibility analysis. Feed intake and weight gain of pigs fed test diets decreased (p>0.05) while, feed conversion ratio increased (p>0.05) compared with the control. There was significant reduction (p<0.05) in the cost of feed per kilogram live weight gain as supplemented CPM increased in diets of finisher pigs. Nutrient digestibility of dry matter, crude fiber, crude protein, ash and nitrogen free extract decreased significantly (p<0.05) while ether extract digestibility decreased (p>0.05). 100% maize replacement with CPM treated with 0.035g of Natuzyme® in 100g of feed for grower finisher pigs proved cheaper though with a slower growth rate.