Evaluation of silk worm pupae meal on growth performance in large white yokshire pigs

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to assess the effect of silk worm pupae meal, a by-product from sericulture industry, on growth, feed conversion efficiency and economics of production in growing pigs. Twenty seven weaned Large White Yorkshire female piglets with an average body weight of 16 kg were selected from University Pig Breeding Farm, Mannuthy and were divided into three groups of nine piglets each, as uniformly as possible with regard to their age and body weight. The piglets were then randomly allotted to three pens to form three replicates per treatment. The three groups of piglets were maintained for 90 days on three isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets T ir Tj and Tj in which protein from unsalted dried fish was replaced by silk worm pupae meal at 0, 50 and 100 per cent level. The animals maintained under the three dietary treatments T w Ta and T, had almost similar growth rate (P>0.05) with a cumulative average daily gain of 481.4, 510.1 and 495.7g. respectively. The total feed intakes of the animals in different groups were almost similar. There was no significant difference (P>0.05) in cumulative feed conversion efficiency between the groups, the values being 3.78, 3.63 and 3.62, respectively, for animals in the dietary treatments Tlt T 2 and T 3. The digestibility coefficients of nutrients except that of ether extract, were slightly higher for the control, ration compared to those with silk worm pupae meal. The cost of production per kilogram live weight gain of pigs maintained on the three dietary treatments, T x, T2 and T3 were Rs. 31.46, 29.19 and 28.20 respectively. Though there was a slight decrease in the cost of production due to incorporation of silk worm pupae meal in place of unsalted dried fish in swine ration, the difference was non significant (P>0.05). The above results indicate that silk worm pupae meal can be effectively included in the diets of growing pigs without affecting growth, feed conversion efficiency and the cost of production.