Comparative digestibility experiments with growing pigs and adult sows

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Abstract
The digestive ability of growing pigs and large adult sows was compared in digestibility experiments with 26 foodstuffs and diets. In all cases, the sows showed superior digestibility of nutrients. On average, the sows digested 150 g more crude protein, 100 g more crude fat, 300 g more crude fibre per kg diet and proportionately 0·09 more gross energy than the young animals. The superior ability of the sows to digest gross energy was negatively correlated with the soluble carbohydrate and gross energy concentration of the food. A close linear relationship between digestibility in growing pigs and that in sows was found, making it possible to apply digestibility data for growing pigs in practical diet formulation for sows.

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