• Food Science of Animal Resources
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.392-400
• /
• 2007

This experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of various periods of rye silage feeding on the growth performance, blood characteristics, and carcass quality of finishing pigs. A total of sixteen [($Landrace{\times}Yorkshire{\times}Duroc$)] pigs (90.26 kg in average initial body weight) were tested in individual cages for a 30 day period. Dietary treatments included 1) CON (basal diet), 2) S10 (basal diet for 20 days and 3% rye silage for 10 days) 3) S20 (basal diet for 10 days and 3% rye silage for 20 days) and 4) S30 (3% rye silage for 30 days). There were no significant differences in the ADG and gain/feed ratio among the treatments(p>0.05), however the ADFI was higher in pigs fed the CON diet than with pigs fed diets with rye silage (p<0.05). The DM digestibility was higher with the S20 diet than with the S30 diet (p<0.05). With regard to blood characteristics, pigs fed rye silage had a significantly reduced cortisol concentration compared to pigs fed the CON diet (p<0.05). The backfat thickness was higher with the CON diet than with the S20 or S30 diets (p<0.05). Regarding the fatty acid contents of the leans, the C18:0 and total SFA were significantly higher with the CON diet than with the other diets (p<0.05). However, the C18:1n9, total MUFA and UFA/SFA levels were significantly lower with the CON diet than the other diets (p<0.05). Regarding the fatty acid contents of fat, the levels of C18:1n9 and MUFA were similar with the S20 and S30 diets, however, these levels were higher than with the CON or S10 diets (p<0.05). In conclusion, feed intake and DM digestibility were affected by rye silage, and the cortisol concentration, backfat thickness and fatty acid composition of pork were positively affected by feeding pigs rye silage.