Evaluation methodologies of nutritional value of defatted rice bran for swine

Abstract

The objective of this work was to compare the substitution method and the regression analysis method to determine the nutritional value of defatted rice bran in diets for swines at growing and finishing phases. Two digestibility bioassays were carried out with 16 barrows with initial body weight of 50.0±3.1 kg, in the growing phase, and 16 barrows with initial body weight of 95.0±3.8 kg, in the finishing phase, housed in metabolic cages. A completely randomized design was used with four treatments - 0, 15, 30 and 45% of substitution of the reference diet by defatted rice bran - and four replications, with one animal as the experimental unit. The regression analysis was more accurate than the method of substitution to assess the nutritional value of defatted rice bran. Throught this analyse, the apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter, organic matter, crude protein and metabolizable energy of defatted rice bran were, respectively, 57.7, 64.8, 56.6% and 2,429 kcal kg^-1 on growing phase, and 57.7, 64.7, 62.6% and 2,233 kcal kg^-1 on finishing phase.