Evaluation of fibrous by-product feeds for the pregnant sow using antibiotic suppression to measure degree of fermentation
The use of fibrous by products in diets for pregnant sows offers possible economic and welfare advantages. To correctly determine their nutritional value it is essential to know the relative roles of enzymatic digestion and fermentation. Techniques developed previously for this purpose have involved the use of surgically modified animals, making them costly and limiting their widespread use. This experiment was designed to investigate the possibility of using short term administration of bacteriostatic levels of antibiotics for this purpose.Twenty Landrace x Large White pregnant sows were individually housed in unbedded stalls and allocated to one of five dietary treatments with differing levels of the two fibrous by-products - distillers dark grains (DDG) or dried, unmolassed sugarbeet pulp (SBP)1)Basal diet (BAS) 850g/kg barley, 120g/kg soyabean meal,30g/kg vitamins and minerals2)70% diet BAS, 30% distillers dark grains (30DDG)3)40%diet BAS, 60% distillers dark grains (60DDG)4)70%diet BAS, 30% unmolassed sugar beet pulp (30SBP)5)40% diet BAS, 60% unmolassed sugarbeet pulp (60SBP)