THE ABILITY OF PIGLETS 4 TO 8 WEEKS OLD TO DIGEST AND PERFORM ON DIETS CONTAINING 2 CONTRASTING SOURCES OF NONSTARCH POLYSACCHARIDE

Twelve Large White X Landrace boars, initial mean live weight (kg) 5.5 1 (s.e. 0.8) were offered cereal-based diets containing 0 (diet C) or 150 g sugar-beet pulp per kg (containing no molasses or other additive ) (diet 15SB) and the indigestible marker titanium dioxide from 21 to 57 days of age. The daily intakes, live-weight gains and food conversi on ratios of the piglets were monitored from day 28. The apparent dige stibilities of nitrogen (N), gross energy (GE) and non-starch polysacc harides (NSP) were measured on days 32 and 56. There were no significa nt differences either in voluntary intakes, or in the daily live-weigh t gains and food conversion ratios between the two diets. Likewise, th ere were no significant differences in the apparent digestibility of N and GE of the two diets. However, the capacity at 56 days of age to d igest N from diet 15SB was greater than at 32 days of age. The apparen t digestibility of total NSP at both 32 and 56 days of age was signifi cantly greater for diet 15SB (averaging 0.75) than for diet C (averagi ng 0.54) (P < 0.001). The major NSP components of diet 15SB were arabi nose, glucose and uronic acids, but the predominant NSP constituents o f diet C were arabinose, xylose and glucose. The apparent digestibilit ies of arabinose (P < 0.05), mannose (P < 0.05), glucose (P < 0.05) an d uronic acids (P < 0.001) were significantly greater from diet 15SB t han from diet C. The apparent digestibility of NSP components from bot h diets tended to increase with age of piglet. These results are discu ssed in relation to the early establishment of an efficient gut microf lora and indicate that the fermentative capacity of very young pigs ma y be higher than previously thought.