Feeding value for finishing pigs of silage effluent with a high initial pH

Abstract

S U M M A R YSilage effluents with pH values of 4 1 , 4-7 and 51 (normal (N), high (H) and very high (VH), respectively) were treated with hydrochloric acid to bring the pH of each effluent to 40. The effluents were offered to finishing pigs in a randomized block experiment (November 1983 to February 1984 at the Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland) with dietary treatments which comprised a control diet in which meal was given to a standard scale of feeding, or effluent diets N, H and VH, in which the effluent was substituted on a dry matter basis for 150g/kg of the standard scale of feeding. In a negative control diet, meal was offered at 850 g/kg of the control diet. Water or effluent as appropriate was given on the meal, and water was also available ad libitum. A total of 60 pigs was used with mean initial and final live weights (LW) of 37-1 and 86-4 kg, respectively.Effluents H and VH had higher ammonia N: total N and lower amino acid N: total N and lactic acid contents than effluent N. The rates of LW gain, feed conversion ratios, backfat thicknesses and the proportions of lean and fat in the ham joint were similar for the control diet and effluent diets N and H, indicating a similar nutritive value for all three. Effluent diet VH gave a significantly {P < 001) reduced rate of LW gain and poorer feed conversion ratio than diets N and H. While diet VH was consumed reluctantly with widespread refusals (mean refusal 28 g DM/kg DM offered), the feed refusals together with the lower lysine and threonine contents of the effluent would not have produced the observed degree of deterioration in growth and feed conversion. Possible reasons for the lower nutritive value are undetectable wastage of feed or the presence of an antinutritional factor in effluent VHG, or a combination of both factors.