Application of NSP-enzymes optimizes muscular development of pigs
Non-starch Polysaccharides (NSP) are known to cause several negative effects on nutrient digestibility. The crude fibre of a diet is mainly fermented by microbes living in the large intestine of the pigs because endogenous enzymes for degradation of fibre are missing. The fatty acids built by this fermentation are of limited energetic value for the animal.
Furthermore the digestibility of protein, fat, minerals and trace elements is reduced by NSPs, because
- they increase the viscosity of the chyme,
- they enclose the nutrients like a cage and
- their high water binding capacity leads to a water layer on the mucosa of the intestine which acts like a barrier for the nutrients.
Because not digested nutrients can be used by pathogenic bacteria high contents of NSP in a diet can lead to a higher incidence of illness and mortality during the production cycle.
The inclusion of exogenous NSP-enzymes results in a degradation of the NSP in the diet whereby the nutrient digestibility is improved and illnesses of the animals are reduced.
Below the effect of 3000 U Endo-1,4-β-Xylanase (Porzyme® 9300) per kg starter feed on fattening and slaughtering performance is presented. Because the inclusion of the enzyme is expected to increase the nutrient digestibility of the diet, energy was reduced from 13,4 MJ/kg to 13,0 MJ/kg when the enzyme was included. Data of more than 12000 pigs of Danish breed, fatted in 8 cycles, is used to show the effect on fattening and slaughtering performance. In two cycles no xylanase was applied while pigs of the remaining 6 cycles received feed with Porzyme®-inclusion.
Table 1 shows the effect of Porzyme® 9300 on fattening performance of the pigs.
Without Porzyme® 9300 | With Porzyme® 9300 | Difference [%] | |
|---|---|---|---|
Number of animals | 2998 | 9259 | |
Initial weight [kg] | 32,43 | 30,58 | -5,7 |
Final weight [kg] | 120,57 | 119,21 | -1,1 |
Days of fattening | 110,80 | 106,49 | -3,9 |
Daily weight gain [g/day] | 795,80 | 832,69 | +4,6 |
Feed intake [kg/animal] | 255,32 | 247,83 | -2,9 |
Feed conversion ratio [kg/kg] | 2,91 | 2,79 | -4,1 |
Losses [%] | 3,66 | 1,84 | -50,3 |
Carcass quality | |||
Carcass yield [%] | 78,06 | 78,11 | +0,1 |
Lean yield [%] | 56,61 | 56,74 | +0,2 |
Daily gain of the animals was improved by 4,6% in average by inclusion of Porzyme® 9300 in the diet. By this improvement the number of days of fattening was reduced by 4,3 days. As the feed intake, despite of the lower energy content of the diet, remained stable, the feed intake per pig and cycle was clearly reduced due to the shorter period of fattening. In consequence the feed conversion ratio was improved by 4,1% (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Effect of Porzyme® 9300 on feed conversion ratio
The number The number of losses was also positively influenced by the xylanase: mortality decreased from 3,7% to 1,8% by use of Porzyme® 9300 (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Effect of Porzyme® 9300 on mortality
Regarding the temporal variation in the development of body tissues of pigs for fattening, the deposition of muscles has priority in young animals while deposition of fat increases at the end of the fattening period. In case of application of NSP-enzymes in the diets of young pigs, nutrient and energy digestibility are increased. This has a positive effect on the carcass quality because the high availability of nutrients lets the pigs grow according to their genetically potential in this early phase of fattening, at a time where mainly muscles are deposited. In consequence lean yield in the carcass is increased.
The lower energy content in the diet and the improved feed conversion ratio reduce the feed costs considerably.
Conclusion:
The NSP-enzyme used in the starter feed showed several positive effects on the fattening performance of pigs. Daily weight gain and feed conversion ratio were clearly improved due to the application of the enzyme. This results in a clear reduction of feeding costs. With the definite reduction of animal losses another advantage of the use of Porzyme® 9300 in starter diets can be observed.