Nutritional evaluation of integral cassava root silages for growing pigs

Abstract

The experiment aimed at determining the nutritional value of integral cassava root silages with yogurt as inoculant or wastewater (manipueira) by liquid addition ensiling process. Eighteen crossbred piglets (Large White × Landrace), castrated males with an initial average weight of 50 kg were allocated in metabolism cages throughout 11-day trial duration (6 days for animal's adaptation to the cages and to the experimental diets, and 5 days of urine and faeces collection). The experimental design was a randomized block arrangement with 3 treatments and 6 replicates: basal diet (100%); mixture composed of 75% basal diet and 25% integral cassava root silage with yogurt as inoculant; a mixture composed of 75% of basal diet and 25% integral cassava root silage with wastewater. The silages with wastewater and yogurt presented the following values of apparent digestibility of dry matter 89.96% and 90.01%, apparent digestibility of crude protein of 60.67% and 66.43%, apparent digestibility of gross energy of 90.43% and 91.48%, gross energy metabolizability coefficients of 87.88% and 88.93%, digestible energy values of 3,705 and 3,783 kcal/kg on a dry matter (DM) basis, and metabolizable energy values of 3,600 and 3,676 kcal/kg DM, respectively. The results have demonstrated that integral cassava root silages with wastewater or yogurt have a high nutritional value and can be used as an alternative energy source in growing pig's diets.