Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of replacing rice bran or fish meal by fresh or dried mulberry leaves on digestibility and nitrogen retention of pigs. | JOURNAL OF SCIENCE, Hue University, Vol. 67, No. 4A, 2011 EFFECT OF REPLACING RICE BRAN OR FISH MEAL BY FRESH OR DRIED MULBERRY LEAVES ON DIGESTIBILITY AND NITROGEN RETENTION OF PIGS Chiv Phiny1, Khieu Borin1 Ho Trung Thong2, Nguyen Tien Von2 T. R. Preston3 1 Center for Livestock and Agriculture Development, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 2 3 University of Agriculture and Forestry, Hue University, Viet Nam University of Tropical Agriculture (UTA-Colombia), Santander, Colombia Abstract. Two experiments were conducted to study the effect of replacing rice bran or fish meal by fresh or dried mulberry leaves on digestibility and nitrogen retention of pigs. In experiment 1, a double 4x4 Latin square design in a 2x4 factorial arrangement was used to study the effect of graded levels of mulberry leaf meal (0, 15, 30 and 50% on a dry basis, respectively) in diets based on rice brans and broken rice on the N balance of eight young castrate male Mong Cai pigs with a mean weight of 15 kg. Mulberry leaf meal (MLM) contained DM and in the dry matter: ash , crude fibre and crude protein () , respectively. Feed intake was calculated to be 50 g DM/kg body weight. Although not significant, DM and organic matter digestibility appeared to increase with increasing levels of dietary MLM. Organic matter digestibility was significantly better (P<); N balance indices improved with the inclusion of MLM in the diet, and this effect was significant for N retention (P<) when expressed as proportion of the digested N. In experiment 2, six Large White castrate male pigs, weighing on average 15 kg, were allocated according to a balanced change-over design, to two diets where mulberry leaves, either in milled of sun-dried or chopped off fresh, contributed about 45% of the total daily N intake in iso-nitrogenous diets (, on a dry basis). There were no significant effects of treatment on DM, organic matter and N digestibility but dry leaves were associated .
