Characterization of carbohydrate fractions of cassava plant meal and its utilization by growing pigs

This research was carried out to evaluate the carbohydrate fractions of Cassava Plant Meal (CPM) and its utilization by growing pigs. CPM was prepared from milled sun-dried unpeeled cassava tuber plus leaves plus tender stems mixed in ratio 2.5:1. The proximate and carbohydrate fractions of CPM were determined. The CPM was included in the diets of growing pigs to replace maize at 0 %, 25 %, 50 %, 75 % and 100 % levels corresponding to T1, T2, T3, T4 and T5, respectively. Twenty growing crossbred (Large White x Hampshire) pigs (10 .0 + 0.5 Kg) were used for the growth trial which lasted eight weeks. The proximate composition showed that CPM had 9.77 % crude protein, 5.35 % crude fibre, 3.38 % ether extract, 4.40 % ash and 65.70 % nitrogen free extract. The starch content of CPM was 1.91 % while the non-starch polysaccharides were 22.32 % for neutral detergent fibre, 10.96 % for acid detergent fibre, 4.15 % for lignin, 11.36 % for hemicelluloses and 6.81 % for cellulose. The final body weight, average daily gain and feed to gain ratio were higher in pigs fed all the CPM diets (p >0.05). However, daily feed intake of the pigs increased (p <0.05) with increasing levels of CPM in the diets. It can be concluded based on the findings in this study that CPM was low in starch, higher in soluble non starch than insoluble non starch polysaccharide with proximate values similar to that of maize. Also, CPM could replace maize completely in the diets of growing pigs without any deleterious effects on the growth response. The inclusion of CPM to replace maize could also lead to reduction in feed cost per kilogram gain of growing pigs. Keywords: cassava plant meal; maize; growing pigs; non-starch polysaccharid