Li DeFa et al., 2000. Asian-Aust. J. Anim.Sci., 13 (5): 666-672

In the first experiment the ileal digestibility of amino acids in sunflower meal was determined using a regression technique. Four 20-kg crossbred (Yorkshire * Landrace * Beijing Black) barrows were fitted with a simple T-cannula in the terminal ileum. After recovery, the barrows were fed one of four diets according to a 4*4 Latin-square design. The pigs were fed corn-soyabean meal based diets supplemented with 0, 25, 50 or 75% sunflower meal. In the second experiment, 80 crossbred (Yorkshire * Landrace * Beijing Black) growing pigs (21.5 kg) were fed corn-soyabean meal diets supplemented with 0, 5, 10 or 15% sunflower meal. Five pens (2 gilts and 2 castrates) were assigned to each treatment. With the exception of arginine and valine, the digestibility coefficients for the indispensable amino acids declined as the level of sunflower meal in the diet increased. During both the growing (21.5-49.1 kg) and finishing (49.1-90.3 kg) periods and over the entire experiment (21.5-90.3 kg), average daily gain declined in a linear manner ( P<0.05) with increasing amounts of sunflower meal. Feed intake was not significantly altered while feed conversion declined in a linear manner ( P<0.05) during the grower period only. When the entire experimental period was taken into account, there was little adverse effect on growth or feed conversion with up to 10% sunflower meal in the diet.