Silage of alternative feeds of Cuban origin, a technical, economical and environmental option for the production of pork meat

Resumen

For evaluating maize substitution by liquid silage from a mixture of sugar cane molasses B, saccharomyces cream, sweet potato tubercle and concentrated vinasse (0, 33, 66 and 100 % dry basis), 144 Yorkshire/Duroc x Landrace pigs, males and females, in equal proportion with a live weight of 30 kg were used. Animals were distributed in four treatments, according to a completely randomized design. They
were housed in collective corrals at a rate of six animals/corral and six replications/treatment. There were no significant differences between treatments for 0, 33 and 66 % substitution but the opposite occurred between these and 100 % maize substitution (P ≤ 0.05) for average daily gain (532, 565, 544 and 495, and 758, 779, 753 and 687g) in the phases of 0-56 and 0-98 d of stay, respectively. The same took place with total feed conversion (3.22, 3.16, 3.38 and 4.16 kg DM/kg increase and 3.63, 3.54, 3.76 and 4.48 kg DM /kg increase) in both stages, respectively. It was demonstrated that the silage of alternative feeds of Cuban origin (AEC) substituted efficiently the imported maize for pig fattening when used up to 66 % with economical and environmental advantages.

Key words: maize, silage, pigs