Browsing by Author "Lekule, Faustin P.M"

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    Coconut oil meal in fattening pig rations
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 1979) Lekule, Faustin P.M
    This experiment was designed to study effects of using coconut cake in pig diets. Pigs of average live weight 40 kg were fed to a restricted scale diets containing 0, 10, 20 or 30% coconut meal to a slaughter weight of 90kg. The coconut meal replaced an equal weight of soybean/maize meal in the diet. Rate of gain and efficiency of feed conversion were linearly reduced by increased levels of coconut meal beyond 10% while costs of feed per kg meat produced increased progressively when coconut meal was incorporated in diets above 10%. The 10% coconut meal diet supported the highest growth rates and was the most economical. The rates of gain were 0.705, 0.719, 0.531 and 0.438kg/ day for the 0, 10, 20 and 30% coconut meal diets, respectively. The efficiencies of feed conversion were reduced beyond 10% coconut meal inclusion; the ratio of feed per gain were 3.21, 3.11, 3.83 and 4.91 for 0, 10, 20 and 30% coconut meal diets, respectively. Though coconut meal was cheaper than the replaced soybean/maize meal the cost of feed per kg live weight gain followed a similar trend. Addition of coconut meal increased fat firmness and side fat thickness. Other carcass quality parameters of meat colour, backfat thickness, area of longissimus dor Lekule si muscle, carcass length, killing out percent, iodine value and saponification value were not affected by the level of coconut meal in the diet. Most were, however, affected by sex. Gilts produced more lean than barrows. Organ weights of kidneys, heart, liver, spleen and weights of kidney fat, fillet muscle and ham were not influenced by the level of coconut meal in the diet. Feed intake was reduced at 20 and 30% levels of coconut meal in the diet. Reduced consumption, reduced digestibility due to increased fibre content and possibly poor lysine availability and protein digestibility of coconut meal are advanced as the main contributing factors for decreased rate and efficiency of gain when coconut meal was incorporated beyond 10%.