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Re‐examination of the metabolizable energy contents of various rations containing different types and levels of bacterially fermentable substrates in digestibility experiments with growing pigs
Author(s) -
Kreuzer M.,
Wittmann M.,
Gerdemann M. M.,
Hanneken H.,
Abel HJ.,
Machmüller A.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of animal physiology and animal nutrition
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.651
H-Index - 56
eISSN - 1439-0396
pISSN - 0931-2439
DOI - 10.1046/j.1439-0396.1999.00218.x
Subject(s) - hindgut , zoology , composition (language) , nutrient , starch , biology , food science , chemistry , ecology , linguistics , philosophy , larva , midgut
Feedstuffs with elevated contents of bacterially fermentable substrates (BFS: GFE 1987) offered to pigs have intermediate metabolizable energy (ME) contents compared with feedstuffs mainly composed of starch or hardly fermentable fibre (H adorn et al. 1996a,b). Consequently, BFS‐elevated feeds could be used as major components enabling pig fattening rations to obtain the ME values required for feed calculation from tabulated values (DLG 1991) or equations based on nutrient composition (GFE 1996). The main field of application for BFS‐elevated feeds is, however, still the feeding of adult, non‐lactating sows, with the majority of investigations on fermentation characteristics also being conducted with sows. In fattening pigs a higher accuracy of estimated ME contents is required than in non‐lactating sows. Furthermore, the ME values of feeds with elevated BFS contents might be systematically different in sows and fattening pigs because a still incomplete evolution of the fermentative capacity of the hindgut of growing pigs cannot be totally excluded (J entsch et al. 1990). The efficiency of hindgut bacterial protein synthesis might also be different from that being assumed from sow data (e.g. K irchgessner et al. 1989, 1994). The objective of the present study was to determine the actual ME and BFS contents of rations varying widely in type and level of BFS in three experiments with growing pigs. By comparing these values with those calculated from equations or from tabulated values a re‐examination of the currently applied feed evaluation system should be carried out. Furthermore, interactions of BFS with dietary protein reduction were investigated, since in low‐protein rations fermentation efficiency might be limited by a lack of nitrogen in the hindgut (M osenthin 1987).