Effect of particle size of yellow maize on the growth performance of cross bred (large white Yorkshire x Desi) pigs

Twenty four female, weaned crossbred (Large White Yorkshire X Desi) piglings with an average live weight of 14.5 kg were divided uniformly on the basis of age and body weight into three groups (T1, T2 and T3) of eight animals. They were maintained for 153 days on identical diets containing maize with the particle size of 3.0, 1.0 and <0.1mm, respectively, for the three groups. The piglings were fed grower ration until they attained an average body weight of 50 kg and thereafter switched over to the finisher ration till slaughter. Body weight and body measurements were recorded monthly. The average daily gains of 317, 335 and 373 g were recorded for the groups T1, T2 and T3, respectively. The cumulative feed conversion ratios were 5.38, 5.08 and 4.57 for the groups T1, T2 and T3, respectively. Finely ground maize (<0.1 mm) improved average daily gain and feed conversion efficiency by 6 percent each over medium ground maize (1.0 mm) and by 18 percent and 15 percent over coarsely ground maize (3.0 mm), respectively. Cost of feed per kg live weight of animals in the three groups T1, T2 and T3 were Rs. 42.34, 40.49 and 37.11, respectively.