Performance of crossbred gilts fed on diets with higher levels of fat and fibre through addition of rice bran

Crossbred gilts (n=54) of about 26.38 +/- 0.85 kg body weight and 25 weeks of age were randomly divided into 18 groups of 3 animals each. Three dietary treatments viz., T-1, T-2 and T-3 were formulated. The treatment T-1 containing maize grain (35%) and wheat bran (47%) along with soybean meal and fish meals served as control diet. Rice bran (RB) was selected as a single source of fat (13.02%) and fibre (17.12%), which was gradually increased in diets T-2(41%) and T-3(82%) replacing maize grain and wheat bran of T-1 at 50% and 100% in the diets T-2 and T-3, respectively. The fat and fibre levels of the diets were thus 3.46 and 5.24, 9.31 and 9.69 and 11.61 and 13.26% in T-1, T-2 and T-3, respectively All the diets, however, contained almost similar concentration of CP (18.35 +/- 0.29%). Each dietary treatment was offered to six replicated groups of 3 piglets in following completely randomized design and feeding was continued for 112 days during the growing phase. Growth, feed utilization, reproductive performance, nutrient utilization and different blood biochemical parameters were studied. Growth rate, feed intake and feed conversion were lower (p<0.01) in T-3 in comparison to T-1 or T-2. Digestibility of all the nutrients except EE was reduced significantly (p<0.01) in T-3. Serum glucose level decreased (p<0.01), whereas the urea and cholesterol concentration in the blood increased (p<0.01) in T-3. The duration of estrus of pigs fed diet containing 82% RB (T-3) was highly variable within the group, but all the groups showed statistically similar duration of estrous. Feed cost per unit gain was found to be comparable between control (T-1) and T-2 group. The results indicated that RB can be included up to 41% in swine diets replacing 50% of maize and wheat bran. Higher concentrations of ether extract and fibre beyond 9.31 and 9.69% in diet had detrimental effect on growth, nutrient utilization and reproductive performance.