Inclusion of fermented guar meal in weaning piglets diet as alternative source of vegetable protein in pork industry

Weaning is a very crucial period in the productive life of the piglet in pork industry. Nutritionally, it requires high attention to avoid digestive disturbances and diarrheas. Inclusion of dietary specialties like vegetables protein concentrates in the prestarter and starter formulations is common in order to cope with the high protein requirement levels. In this category of feed ingredients, fermented feeds represent an interesting option. Guar meal is a co-product derived from the extraction of galactomannan polysaccharide guar gum (Cyamopsis tetragonalobulos) from the endosperm of the bean and is a good candidate to be considered as a specialty for weaning piglet diet. A trial was conceived to evaluate the use of a fermented guar meal at two different inclusion levels on performance of weaning piglets. The trial lasted 42 days. 42 piglets (age: 28 days; average body weight: 7.67 ± 0.34 kg) were housed in single box at the Experimental Zootechnical Centre of the Università degli Studi di Milano, in Lodi, Italy. Animals were fed with a prestarer diet from 0 to day 14 and a starter diet from 14 to day 42. Animals were randomly assigned to three homogenous groups for weight, sex and litter (n=14): a control group (C), without experimental supplementation; a prestarter diet supplemented with 7% of fermented guar meal (Mycoprime®, Panghea spa, Italy) and a starter diet supplemented with 5% of fermented guar meal (T1); a prestarter diet supplemented with 10% of fermented guar meal and a starter diet supplemented with 10% of fermented guar meal (T2). Individual feed intake (FI) and live body weight (LBW) was recorded at days 0, 14, 28, 42. From the results obtained, average daily feed intake (ADFI), average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated. Collected data were analyzed by mixed procedure of SAS. Significant level was considered for p<0.05 and tendency for 0.05<0.1. No differences were observed between C and T1 for LBW, ADFI, ADG at days 14 (10.92±0.56 vs. 10.94±0.56; 0.39±0.04 vs. 0.36±0.04; 0.24±0.03 vs. 0.24±0.03; P>0.05), 28 (17.76±0.56 vs 17.63±0.56; 0.77±0.04 vs. 0.80±0.04; 0.49±0.03 vs. 0.48±0.03; ; P>0.05) and 42 (27.68±0.56 vs. 27.23±0.56; 1.19±0.04 vs. 1.22±0.04 ; 0.71±0.03 vs. 0.69±0.03; P>0.05). Lower performances were observed in T2 compared with C and T1 at days 28 and 42 for LBW, ADFI and ADG (d28, 16.38±0.56; 1.02±0.04; 0.39±0.03; d42, 24.22±0.56; 1.02±0.04; 0.56±0.03; P<0.05), but not at day 14 (10.95±0.56; 0.34±0.04; 0.23±0.03; P>0.05). FCR tended to be lower for C compared with T2 (1.66 vs. 1.75; 0.05<0.1) and did not differ between C and T1. In conclusion, fermented guar meal was able to replace protein concentrates like soybean concentrates in prestarter and starter weaning piglets diets without reducing performances at inclusions of 7% in prestarter and 5% in starter diets while reduced performances at the highest level (10%).