Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-30T22:08:59.202Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Digestibility and voluntary intake of roughages by wild boar and Meishan pigs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2016

S. E. van Wieren
S. E. van Wieren*
Affiliation:
Department of Environmental Sciences, Agricultural University Wageningen, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Get access

Abstract

The digestibility and voluntary intake of fibrous roughages and acorns was studied in six wild boar and five Meishan pigs. The neutral-detergent fibre (NDF) concentration of the diets ranged from 139 to 767 g/kg of the organic matter. Organic matter digestibility of acorns, mixed grass and wheat straw was higher in wild boar (P < 0·05) while voluntary food intake of the Meishan pigs was higher for mixed grass, hay and wheat straw (P < 0·05). Organic matter digestibility (P < 0·01) and NDF digestibility (P < 0·05) were both negatively related to NDF concentration of the diet. No relationship existed between voluntary food intake and NDF concentration of the diet. The apparent nitrogen (N) digestibility was positively related (P < 0·01) to dietary N while no relationship was found with dietary NDF. The negative effect of NDF on digestibility could only be partly explained by the lignin concentration of NDF. Much more important was the lower efficiency of the carbohydrate fermentation in the caecum and colon when compared with the direct absorption of glucose from the small intestine. It was estimated that digestible NDF at a maximum contributed proportionately 0·26 to the metabolizable energy intake of the animals. It was concluded that wild boar and domestic pigs should be able to maintain themselves on an all fresh grass diet when NDF concentration of the diet does not exceed about 550 g/kg and N concentration is not too low.

Keywords

digestibilityfood fibrefood intakepigswild pigs
Type
Non-ruminant nutrition, behaviour and production
Information
Animal Science , Volume 71 , Issue 1 , August 2000 , pp. 149 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © British Society of Animal Science 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agricultural Research Council. 1980. The nutrient requirements of ruminant livestock. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough, UK.Google Scholar
Agricultural Research Council. 1981. The nutrient requirements of pigs. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux, Slough, UK.Google Scholar
Boenker, D. E., Tribble, L. F. and Pfander, W. H. 1969. Energy and nitrogen evaluation of swine diets containing added fat or corn cobs. Journal of Animal Science 28: 615–619.Google Scholar
Braude, R. 1967. The effect of changes in feeding pattern on the performance of pigs. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society 26: 163–181.Google Scholar
Briedermann, L. 1990. Schwarzwild. VEB Deutscher Landwirtschaftverlag, Berlin.Google Scholar
Close, W. H. 1993. Fibrous diets for pigs. In Animal production in developing countries (ed. M.Gill, , Owen, E., Pollott, G.E. and Lawrence, T.L.J.), British Society of Animal Production occasional publication no. 16, pp. 107–117.Google Scholar
Drennan, P. and Maguire, M. F. 1970. Prediction of the digestible and metabolizable energy content of pig diets from their fibre content. Irish Journal of Agricultural Research 9: 197–202.Google Scholar
Eggum, B. O. 1973. A study of certain factors influencing protein utilization in rats and pigs. Kommission Hos Landhusholdningsselskabets Forlag, Kobenhavn.Google Scholar
Farrell, D. J. 1973. Digestibility by pigs of the major chemical components of diets high in plant cell-wall constituents. Animal Production 16: 43–47.Google Scholar
Farrell, D. J. and Johnson, K. A. 1970. Utilization of cellulose by pigs and its effects on caecal function. Animal Production 14: 209–217.Google Scholar
Fevrier, C., Bourdon, D. and Aumaitre, A. 1988. Digestive capacity of the Chinese pig-effect of dietary fiber on digestibility and intestinal and pancreatic enzymes. Proceedings of the fourth international seminar on digestive physiology in the pig, Jablona, Poland, pp. 172–179.Google Scholar
Fevrier, C., Bourdon, D. and Aumaitre, A. 1992. Effects of dietary fibre from wheat bran on digestibility of nutrients, digestive enzymes and performance in the European Large White and Chinese Mei Shan pig. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 68: 60–72.Google Scholar
Frank, G. R., Aherne, F. X. and Jensen, A. H. 1983. A study of the relationship between performance and dietary component digestibilities by swine fed different levels of dietary fiber. Journal of Animal Science 50: 645–654.Google Scholar
Goering, H. K. and Van Soest, P. J. 1970. Forage fiber analyses (apparatus, reagents, procedures and some applications). Agricultural handbook no. 379. Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Groot Bruinderink, G. W. T. A., Hazebroek, E. and Voet, H. van der. 1994. Diet and condition of wild boar, Sus scrofa scrofa, without supplementary feeding. Journal of Zoology, London 233: 631–648.Google Scholar
Hof, G. 1980. An investigation into the extent to which various dietary components, particularly lactose, are related to the incidence of diarrhoea in milk-fed calves. Doctoral thesis, Agricultural University Wageningen. Google Scholar
Holzgraefe, D. P., Fahey, G. C. and Jensen, H. 1985. Influence of dietary alfalfa: orchardgrass hay and lasalocid on in vitro estimates of dry matter digestibility and volatile fatty acid concentrations of cecal contents and rate of digesta passage in sows. Journal of Animal Science 60: 1235–1245.Google Scholar
Imoto, S. and Namioka, S. 1978. VFA production in the pig’s large intestine. Journal of Animal Science 47: 467–478.Google Scholar
Just, A. 1980. Factors influencing energy losses during metabolism — faecal losses in pigs. Proceedings of the 31st annual meeting of the European Association for Animal Production, Munich, pp. 1–5.Google Scholar
Just, A. 1982. The influence of ground barley straw on the net energy value of diets for growth in pigs. Livestock Production Science 9: 717–729.Google Scholar
Kass, M. I., Van Soest, P. J. and Pond, W. G. 1980. Utilization of dietary fiber from alfalfa by growing swine. II. Volatile fatty acid concentrations in and disappearance from the gastrointestinal tract. Journal of Animal Science 50: 192–197.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kemp, B., Hartog, L. A. den, Klok, J. J. and Zandstra, T. 1991. The digestibility of nutrients, energy and nitrogen in the Meishan and Dutch Landrace pig. Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition 65: 263–266.Google Scholar
Kennelly, J. J. and Aherne, F. X. 1980. The effect of fiber addition to diets formulated to contain different levels of energy and protein on growth and carcass quality of swine. Canadian Journal of Animal Science 60: 385–393.Google Scholar
Keys, J. E. Jr., Van Soest, P. J. and Young, E. P. 1970. Effects of increasing cell wall content on the digestibility of hemicellulose and cellulose in swine and rats. Journal of Animal Science 31: 1172–1181.Google Scholar
King, R. H. and Taverner, M. R. 1975. Prediction of the digestible energy in pig diets from analyses of fibre contents. Animal Production 21: 275–286.Google Scholar
Mason, V. C. and Palmer, R. 1973. The influence of bacterial activity in the alimentary canal of rats on faecal nitrogen excretion. Acta Agriculturæ Scandinavica 23: 141–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, D. J., Cole, D. J. A. and Lewis, D. 1975. Energy values in pig nutrition. I. The relationship between digestible energy, metabolizable energy and total digestible nutrient values of a range of feedstuffs. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 84: 7–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pond, W. G. 1989. Plant fibre utilization by pigs. Pig News and Information 10: 13–15.Google Scholar
Schnorrenberg, H. J. 1979. Vergleichende verdauungsversuche an wachsenden haus- und wildschweinen. Inaugural dissertation, Institut für Tiernährung der Rheinischen Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, Bonn.Google Scholar
Stanogias, G. and Pearce, G. R. 1985. The digestion of fibre by pigs. 1. The effects of amount and type of fibre on apparent digestibility, nitrogen balance and rate of passage. British Journal of Nutrition 53: 513–530.Google Scholar
Statistical Analysis System Institute. 1989 SAS/STAT user's guide, version 6, fourth edition, volume 2.Cary, NC.Google Scholar
Van Soest, P. J. 1994. Nutritional ecology of the ruminant. O and B Books, Corvallis, OregonGoogle Scholar