Effect of Fermented Liquid Feed (FLF) on Performance and Feed Efficiency of Large White Yorkshire (LWY) Pigs under Tropical Climate of North-East India

Background: Feeding of fermented feed is not popular among the pig farmers inspite of manifold advantages as preparation is laborious, involves technical knowledge requiring considerable time. An attempt was made to standardise a preparation method of FLF and comparative assessment was made with dry and liquid feed in LWY pigs. Methods: Twenty-four weaned LWY piglets (11.45±2.42 to 11.46±2.37 kg) were assigned - dry feed (T1), Liquid feed (T2), liquid feed fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus (T3) and liquid feed fermented with Enterococcus faecium (T4) in a 180 days feeding trial. Liquid feed was prepared by mixing feed and water at 1:2 (w/w) and the FLFs were prepared by fermenting liquid feed with Lactobacillus acidophilus for T3 and Enterococcus faecium for T4. Pigs were fed individually ad libitum considering each piglet as replicate. Nutrient digestibility was estimated at 18th and 30th week of age conducting two feeding trials. Carcass traits and sensory quality of pork were evaluated by slaughtering 3 pigs from each treatment at the end of trial. Result: No significant effect (P greater than 0.05) of FLFs was observed in feed intake in the growing phase, but it was significantly high in T3 and T4 in the finishing phase. Significantly (P less than 0.05) high body weight gain with improvement of 17.76% in T3 and 17.71% in T4 were recorded. Apparent nutrient digestibility was better in T3 and T4 and crude protein digestibility was significantly (P less than 0.05) high in T3 in finishing phase. Significantly improved feed efficiency was recorded for T3 and T4. The feeding cost/kg body weight gain was Rs. 128.36, 120.43, 112.87 and 115.51, respectively for T1, T2, T3 and T4. Significantly high dressing% and carcass length with positive effect on water holding capacity were observed for feeding FLFs, but without any significant effect on proximate composition and sensory attributes of pork.