PSVI-30 Comparative analysis on partial replacement of soybean meal with various plant sources on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and meat quality in finishing pigs

Abstract Soybean meal (SBM) is a high-protein plant product commonly used as a primary protein source in pig diets. However, its price has been steadily increasing. Concurrently researchers were prompted to search for cost-effective, high-yield protein sources. In the earlier studies palm kernel meal (PKM), distillers dried grains solubles (DDGS), and rapeseed meal (RSM) were potentially used as substitutes for SBM. Still, no study exists on conducting a comparative analysis of replacing soybean meal with various plant extracts. Therefore, we aimed to analyze whether replacing SBM with various plant extracts could reveal comparable effects on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, and meat quality in finishing pigs. For 10 wk, n = 200 [(Yorkshire × Landrace) × Duroc] finishing pigs [body weight (BW) = 57.07 ± 3.18 kg] were assigned to one of five dietary treatments. The test treatments were control (CON) corn-SBM-based diet, and the CON diet replaced with 10% of PKM, lupin Kernel (LK), RSM, and DDGS, respectively. Each treatment has 10 replicates with 4 (2 barrows and 2 gilts) pigs/pen. The dietary treatments were as follows control (CON), a corn-SBM-based diet; and the SBM diet replaced with 10% of each PKM, Lupin Kernel (LK), RSM, and DDGS. The partial replacement of SBM with various plants reveals neither significant nor adverse effects on the overall performance in finishing pigs. In summary, we concluded that partially replacing SBM with various plant sources would serve as a better option for small farm owners to save their feed costs.