Comparison of in vivo Method, AIA Marker Technique and in vitro Method for Measurement of Nutritive Value of 'Eco-feed' for Growing/Finishing Pigs

Abstract

The experiment was conducted to evaluate a rapid and accurate laboratory method of predicting the nutritive value of eco-feeds (feeds made of recycled food waste), comparing indicator and in vitro methods with an in vivo method. The nutritive values of eco-feeds and commercial formula feeds were measured by the total collection method (in vivo method), indicator method and in vitro method. The nutritive values that were obtained by those methods were compared. Acid-insoluble ash (AIA) was used as a marker of the indicator method. The in vitro digestibility was analyzed according to the method of Boisen and Fernandez (1997).
Digestibilities of EE, CA and CF by the AIA method were significantly correlated with the in vivo digestibilities (p<0.01, r>0.7), but significant correlations were not observed regarding CP, NFE, OM and DM. DCP, DEE, DCF, DNFE, DOM and TDN by the AIA method were significantly correlated with the values of the in vivo method (p<0.05, r>0.46). The regression equation between the in vivo OMD and the in vitro OMD was significant (OMD = 0.39*OMDv+0.60, r = 0.81, p<0.05).
It is suggested that the in vitro technique of estimating OM digestibility can be applied to predict in vivo OM digestibility of eco-feeds, and also the AIA method and the in vitro method will be applicable to estimating the nutritive values of eco-feeds.