Energy concentration and phosphorus digestibility in meat meal, fish meal, and soybean meal fed to pigs

Objective: The objectives of the present study were to determine digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME), and standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of phosphorus (P) in meat meal (MM) and to compare these values with those in fish meal (FM), and soybean meal (SBM) fed to pigs. Methods: Two experiments were conducted to determine energy concentrations and STTD of P in MM, FM, and SBM fed to growing pigs. In Exp. 1, DE and ME in the 3 test ingredients were measured using 24 barrows with initial body weight (BW) of 77.7 +/- 8.3 kg. A corn-based diet and 3 diets containing corn and 22% to 30% of each test ingredient were prepared. In Exp. 2, the STTD of P in the 3 test ingredients was measured using 24 barrows (90.9 +/- 6.6 kg BW). Three diets were formulated to contain each test ingredient as the sole source of P. Results: In Exp. 1, the DE and ME values in MM (3,310 and 2,856 kcal/kg dry matter [DM]) were less (p<0.05) than those in FM (4,121 and 3,572 kcal/kg DM) and SBM (4,390 and 4,032 kcal/kg DM). In Exp. 2, FM (64.3%) had greater (p<0.05) STTD of P than SBM (44.8%) with MM (55.8%) having intermediate STTD of P. Conclusion: The MM contains less energy concentrations compared with FM and SBM, and digestibility of phosphorus in MM does not differ from that in FM and SBM.