Normal and light weight oats as feed for growing pigs

Authors

• Maija-Liisa Salo Department of Animal Husbandry, University of Helsinki, 00710 Helsinki 71
• Timo Alaviuhkola Swine Research Station, Agricultural Research Centre, 05840 Hyvinkää 4

DOI: https://doi.org/10.23986/afsci.72044

Abstract

The feed value for pigs of five lots of oats was studied by digestibility and feeding trials. Two of the oats were very light (36—39 kg/hl), three normal weight(51—56 kg/hl). The most apparent difference between the light and normal oats was the contents of starch and crude fibre and the digestibility of NFE. Clear differences were also found in the colours of meals, although all oats were light-coloured varieties. The difference in the energy value between the best and the poorest was 13 % by the digestibility and 15 % by the feeding trial. The difference in the economic return on the oats was 23%. The energy values of the three normal oats were very much alike. One of the two light oats was darker in colour and poorly palatable due to damage during harvest. Its energy value was found lower in the feeding trial than in the digestibility trial. Our results show that light weight oats, if not damaged, are useful feed for pigs, even though their nutritive values arc lower. The feed value of damaged oats, on the other hand, could not be predicted from the chemical composition, nor sufficiently even from the results of the digestibility trial.