Effect of dietary supplementation of sodium formate on the performance and carcass characteristics in crossbred pigs

24 crossbred (LWY X Desi) male pigs (18.4±0.25 kg) were randomly divided into 4 equal groups to study the effect of supplementing sodium formate at 0.6 (T₁), 0.9 (T₂) and 1.2% (T₃) and 0% to the control (T₄) grower (15–35 kg) and finisher (35–70 kg) rations on nutrient digestibility, growth performance and carcass characteristics. Nutrients digestibility (DM, CP and NFE), N retention and ADG were higher (P<0.05) in group T₂ than in other groups during grower phase while in finisher phase growth performance was comparable among groups. The carcass characteristics were comparable among treatments. It was concluded that sodium formate supplementation @ 0.9% in the diet was beneficial in improving the performance of crossbred pigs