Nutritional Evaluation of Potato Meal on Growth Performance, Nutrient Utilisation, Blood Parameters and Economics in Growing Pigs

The experiment was conducted for nutritional evaluation of potato meal as an energy source in growing pigs. For the study, 12 pigs were distributed into 3 treatment groups for 60 days, each treatment having 4 pigs. Three treatments comprised of T₁ - control diet, T₂ -potato meal replacing 25% of crude protein contributed by maize and T₃ - potato meal replacing 50% of crude protein contributed by maize. The pigs of all experimental groups were weighed individually at 15 days intervals. Digestion trial and blood collection was done at the end of the experiment. Control diets fed pigs had better (P<0.05) body weight gain, final body weight, average daily gain and FCR as compared those of groups T₂ and T₃. Blood parameter showed no significant difference among the groups, whereas blood parameters remained within the permissible limit. It was concluded that as the amount of potato meal increased, the gain in body weight and the digestibility of nutrients decreased.