EFFECT OF FEEDING FODDER RADISH (RAPHANUS-SATIVUS L) AS A PARTIAL REPLACEMENT OF CONCENTRATE COMPONENT IN SWINE RATIONS

Two experiments were conducted on crossbred male piglets and adult fem ale pigs for nutritional evaluation of fodder radish (Raphanus sativus L.) in swine rations. In experiment 1, 12 crossbred uncastrated male piglets of about 5 months were randomly allotted to 3 treatments and w ere kept on a feeding regimen comprising control ration with conventio nal concentrate (T1); ad lib. feeding of fodder radish as basal feed s upplemented with 50% of concentrate of control (T2) and fodder radish as basal feed ad lib. supplemented with 25% of concentrate of control (T) ration for 70 days. The DM intake (kg day) of piglets was signific antly (P<0.05) higher on T1 than on T2 or T3. However, their DM intake (kg/100 kg BW) did not differ significantly among the treatments. The average body weight gain was 170.71+/-33.31, 70.71+/-5.38 and 44.70+/ -3.83 g/day on rations containing 3 278.75+/-117.30.2 422.70+/-137.20 and 2 110.43+/-37.81 Kcal DE/kg of T1, T2 and T3 respectively. Results of experiment 2 revealed that all the 6 mini Naga adult female pigs w ere on positive N balance with 31.75% N retention exclusively on fodde r radish. The DCP and TDN values of fodder radish were 8.04 and 66.58, respectively, with DE value of 2,249.74 Kcal/kg. The estimated and ca lculated ME values were 2 112.49+/-133.44 and 2 109.36+/-119.92 Kcal/k g of the radish diet respectively. The results revealed that fodder ra dish could form an alternative feed resource with potential to replace concentrated feed to a limited extent in the rations of swine.