Different Levels of Palm Kernel Meal in Weaning Pigs and Carry-over Effect on Marketing Pigs in Growth and Pork Quality

The fluctuation in price of major feed ingredients is affecting cost of production in swine industry. Therefore, alternative ingredients to reduce feed cost become more important than before. Palm kernel meal (PKM) is a by-product after extracting palm oil in tropical area. There were various studies to evaluate PKM supplementation instead of corn and SBM in growing-finishing pig’s diet. However, there was no information for optimal level of dietary PKM in weaning pigs’ diet, this experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of PKM in weaning pig diet on growth performance, blood profiles, nutrient digestibility and pork quality.

A total of 350 weaning pigs were allotted to one of 5 dietary treatments based on body weight (BW) and sex in 7 replicates with 10 pigs per pen using a randomized completely block (RCB) design. After weaning periods, 245 selected pigs by BW of each treatment and sex were moved to growing-finishing facility to evaluate carry-over effect on growth performance and pork quality. Dietary treatments were divided by different levels of PKM (0, 4, 8, 12, or 16%) during weaning periods. In growing-finishing periods, all pigs were provided the same commercial feed which consisted of 4 phase feedings. In addition, blood profiles, nutrient digestibility and pork quality were evaluated. Data were analyzed by analysis of variance using the general linear model procedure of SAS.

When weaning pigs were fed at 16% of PKM, lower BW, ADG and ADFI were observed than those of other treatment (P< 0.01). Although different growth responses were observed by dietary PKM during weaning period, there were no significant differences among treatments in growing-finishing period. In blood profiles, no difference was observed on BUN, IgA and IgG concentration during the whole experimental period. Crude protein digestibility of weaning pigs fed 4% PKM diet was significantly higher than other treatments (P< 0.05). In pork quality, pH, L* and a* value were not affected by supplementation level of PKM in diet of weaning pigs. However, b* value at 0 hour was significantly lower when pigs were fed diet containing 16% of PKM (P< 0.05). Water holding capacity and cooking loss were increased linealy as increasing PKM level in weaning pig diet (P< 0.01).

This experiment suggested that supplementation of 16% of PKM in weaning pig diet showed negative effect on growth performance. However, dietary PKM can be supplemented up to 12% in weaning pigs’ diet without detrimental effects on growth and pork quality at market weight.

Disclosure of Interest: None Declared.