Le Thi Men et al., 2004. Livest. Res. Rural Dev., 15 (4)

An experiment was carried out at Song Hau State farm from April to June in 2002 with 48 crossbred growing pigs (Landrace * Large White) with an average initial live weight of 57 kg and final live weight of 90 kg. The trial included 4 diets: Cassava root meal, catfish oil 0 (Control, CRM-OIL0); Cassava root waste, catfish oil 0 (CRW-OIL0); Cassava root waste, catfish oil 5% (CRW-OIL5) and Cassava root waste, catfish oil 10% (CRW-OIL10) and 4 blocks, corresponding to the initial live weights of the groups, randomly allocated to 16 pens. The mean dietary crude protein (CP) content was 15.3% in dry matter and the daily DM feed intake equal to 3% of the mean pen live weight. Mean daily gains were significantly different (P<0.05) among treatments, and were 685 g, 598 g, 715 g and 634 g for CRM-OIL0, CRW-OIL0, CRW-OIL5 and CRW-OIL10 diets, respectively. The FCRs were 2.9, 3.1, 2.9 and 3.0 for these diets, respectively. The carcass quality parameters of back fat thickness (2.2, 2.2, 1.9 and 2.4 cm, respectively) and loin eye area (46.7, 45.2, 47.5 and 45.6 cm2, respectively) were not significantly different between diets. Similarly the content of crude protein in loin muscle was not affected by treatment (P>0.05). The Iodine No of back fat was higher (P<0.01) in the 10% catfish oil diet. The highest economic benefit was for the CRW-OIL5 diet.