Effects of dietary supplementation of shrimp head and shell by-products on growth performance and incidence of diarhea in fattening pigs from 96 to 164 days of age

The objective of this study was to evaluate effects of dietary supplementation of shrimp head and shell by-products on growth performance and incidence of diarhea in fattening pigs from August 2023 to October 2023 at the pig farm in Thoai Son district, An Giang province. A total of 90 crossbred pigs [(Duroc x Pietrain) x (Landrace x Yorkshire); 96 days old] were assigned to 1 of 3 treatments with 5 replicate pens of 6 pigs each according to sex, litter origin, and weight in a randomized complete block design (RCBD). The 3 dietary treatments included (1) Basal diet (control), (2) Basal diet + 3 g/kg shrimp hydrolysate powder (SH) and (3) Basal diet + 10 g/kg shrimp heads and shells meal (SM). The results showed that there were no significant differences in the average body weight (BW) and average daily gain (ADG) among the 3 treatments (P > 0.05). Similarly, pigs fed the SH diet (2.99) and SM diet had the same feed conversion ratio (FCR) of pigs (P = 0.767) as those fed the control diet (3.04) during the whole period from 96 to 164 days of age. Furthermore, no significant differences (P > 0.05) were found in the average daily feed intake (ADFI) and the diarrhea incidence among the 3 treatments. Briefly, the results in the current study suggest that dietary supplementation of shrimp head and shell by-products (shrimp hydrolysate powder, or shrimp heads and shell meal) seem to have no positive effects on growth productivity (BW, ADG, ADFI and FCR) and incidence of diarrhea in fattening pigs during 96 - 164 days of age.