Phosphorus utilization in pigs fed <i>Aspergillus niger</i> treated wheat offal, brewers' dried grain and palm kernel cake

Abstract

The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of Phosphorus (P) in Aspergillus niger treated Wheat Offal (WO), Brewers Dried Grain (BDG) and Palm Kernel Cake (PKC), were measured using growing pigs (Large White X Hampshire) of average weight 21.02 ± 0.63 kg in a 2 x 3 factorial arrangement. Six diets based with or without Aspergillus niger were formulated. A P-free diet was also
formulated to measure endogenous losses of P. The results of the experiment showed that the ATTD and STTD of P in treated WO (72.22 and 83.26 %), BDG (84.61 and 88.21 %) and PKC (82.36 and 85.68 %) were greater (P < 0.05) than in untreated WO (53.54 and 58.08 %), BDG (67.83 and 73.92 %) and PKC (78.47 and 82.37 %) respectively. The microbial treatment also reduced (P < 0.05) the excretion of P in the faeces from (1.13 to 0.71 g), (0.53
to 0.43 g) and (0.56 to 0.55 g) in WO, BDG and PKC respectively. It was concluded that Aspergillus niger treatment of the WO, BDG and PKC significantly improved the ATTD and STTD of phosphorous and also reduced P-excretion in growing pigs fed these feedstuffs.