Increasing overall digestibility in pigs to capture the full value of your feed

Although cereals and protein meals contain high levels of valuable nutrients, animals are unable to fully utilize them due to their inaccessibility or limited digestibility. In general, complete feed contains more than 20% indigestible fractions, which are composed of dietary fibers, phytate and nutrients presented in forms not completely available to monogastrics.

1. NDF and AX negatively impact the general digestibility, amino acid absorption, and digestible energy in swine diets

Fibers received great attention in animal nutrition due to their significant positive and negative effects in various arenas, such as behavior, welfare, digestibility and performance. In addition, the use of fiber-rich feeds in swine diets is of primary interest as a way to reduce feed cost and prevent competition between feed and food industries for starch-rich raw material. These fiber-rich feeds were generally considered to have low nutritional value due to the lower digestive energy or amino acid levels compared to concentrated feeds with high starch or protein content (Woyengo et al., 2014). Optimal use of these products is extremely important to ensure sustainable animal production. The effect of high-fiber ingestion has generally been a reduction in pig growth rate. However, the reports obtained have often been contradictory. Fibers consist of a variety of different components, as shown in Figure 1.