GROWTH PERFORMANCE OF NATIVE PIGS FED WITH TRICHANTERA LEAF MEAL (Trichantera gigantea) AS PARTIAL REPLACEMENT TO BASAL DIET

Abstract

The study was conducted to assess the growth performance and economic benefits of native pigs fed diets with or without Trichantera leaf meal (TLM) in growing native pigs. A total of ten (10) 88 days old growing native pigs with a mean bodyweight of 5.54 ± 0.30 kg were used in the experiment and were allocated into 2 dietary treatments namely, Treatment 1 (T1) which was the basal diet (100% BD) and Treatment 2 (T2) which contains 85% BD and 15% TLM with 5 replications. Results showed that growing native pigs fed with 85% BD + 15% TLM had significantly higher (P<0.05) average daily feed intake (ADFI). With regards to growth performance, the body weight gain (BWG), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) of growing native pigs at all growth periods were found comparable. Economic benefit was also not achieved with dietary TLM inclusion. Considering that there was a significant difference in ADFI, higher inclusion of Trichantera may elicit a significant response in future studies.