CASSAVA PEELS IN THE DIET OF YOUNG-PIGS IN NIGERIA

Cassava tuber peels were analysed for their chemical composition. Grad ed levels were included in the diets of young pigs in 2 separate exper iments to determine their nutritive value for growth and their effect on carcass characteristics. Cassava peels made up 11.8% of the tuber a nd contained 19.10MJ/kg, gross energy and 140.90ppm free cyanide, In t he first experiment, involving 40 individually fed pigs averaging 9.35 kg liveweight, levels of 0, 7.50, 15.0, 22.50 and 30.00% of cassava pe els were included in iso-nitrogenous diets. There were no significant differences in growth performance between the dietary treatments (P > 0.05). In the second experiment, 32 individually penned pigs averaging 35.17kg were fed iso-nitrogenous (16% CP) and iso-caloric (15.02MJ/kg ME) diets in which cassava peels were included in the diets at levels of 0, 19, 38 and 57 per cent. There were no significant differences i n average daily gain, average daily feed intake and feed/gain between treatments. Carcass weights and measurements were also not significant ly different (P > 0.05). The use of cassava peels as a partial replace ment for maize in young pig diets was shown to be cost effective. It w as established in the study that up to a 57% level of inclusion had no deleterious effect on the pigs.