Digestibility and effect of copra cake on rate of gain, feed efficiency and protein retention of fattening pigs

Abstract

Sixteen barrows and 16 gilts of average liveweight 40 kg were fed on diets containing 0, 10, 20 or 30% copra cake. The copra cake replaced an equal weight of soyabean-maize meal in the diet. The rates of gain were 705, 719, 543 and 438 g/day and the ratios of feed per unit of gain were 3.21, 3.11, 3.83 and 4.91 for 0, 10, 20 and 30% copra cake diets respectively. Feed intake was reduced when 20 and 30% levels of copra cake were included in the diet. Reduced consumption, digestibility and possibly poor lysine availability and protein digestibility of copra cake are advanced as the main contributing factors for decreased rate and efficiency of gain when copra cake was incorporated beyond 10%. In a second experiment 18 female pigs weighing between 40 and 60 kg were put into metabolism cages and fed diets containing five to 30% copra cake. The copra cake replaced an equal weight of wheat bran. Faeces and urine were collected and analysed. The digestibility of copra cake was found to be low especially for protein (56.3% for true protein) Protein retention was reduced by high levels of copra cake inclusion. It is concluded that high levels of copra cake reduce performance of fattening pigs due to reduced feed intake and poor protein digestibility. Ten % seems to be the optimum level of inclusion.

Amino acid digestibility and concentration of digestible and metabolizable energy in copra meal, palm kernel expellers, and palm kernel meal fed to growing pigs

“…The reason for the differences in the ME:DE ratio among CM sources is not known; however, the wide variation in protein digestibility among sources of CM may partly contribute to these differences because the digestible protein concentration in the diet affects urinary N excretion and urinary energy loss, which is the main variable that affects the metabolic utilization of DE for ME (Noblet and van Milgen, 2004). The DE and ME of CM obtained in this experiment are within the wide range of values reported for copra expellers (Lekule et al, 1986;Sauvant et al, 2004;PHILSAN, 2010).…”

Nutritional value of high fiber co-products from the copra, palm kernel, and rice industries in diets fed to pigs

“…The standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA in copra meal and copra expellers fed to pigs ranges between 43 and 81 % [ 11 , 14 – 16 ]. The SID of Lys in copra meal is also variable, ranging from 51 [ 15 , 17 ] to 73 % [ 10 ], but the SID of all other indispensable AA is greater than that of Lys indicating that the sources of copra meal used in these experiments may have been heat damaged because heat damage will reduce the digestibility of Lys more than that of other AA [ 18 – 20 ].…”

“…Copra meal and copra expellers may be included in diets fed to growing and finishing pigs by up to 30 % without affecting growth performance [ 22 ], but negative effects of increasing levels of copra meal in the diet have been reported [ 4 , 14 , 23 ]. However, Thorne et al [ 3 ] demonstrated that copra meal can be used by up to 50 % in growing-finishing diets if diets are supplemented with synthetic AA or proteins with higher quality.…”