ILEAL DIGESTIBILITY OF AMINO-ACIDS IN PIGS GIVEN A BARLEY-BASED DIET WITH INCREASING INCLUSION OF LUCERNE LEAF MEAL

Ileal digestibility of amino acids in barley-based diets with increasi ng inclusion of lucerne leaf meal (LLM; 0, 50, 100 and 200 g/kg) was s tudied in a change-over experiment with post-valve T-caecum cannulated growing pigs. The apparent ileal digestibility of crude protein, as w ell as of most of the essential (EAA) and non-essential amino acids (N EAA) was not significantly affected by the dietary inclusion of LLM. T he exceptions were cystine, methionine, phenylalanine, glutamic acid a nd serine, all of which showed a significant (P < 0.05) reduction in a pparent ileal digestibility with increasing inclusion of LLM. In contr ast, the calculated true ileal digestibility of all EAA (with the exce ption of arginine and lysine) and the NEAA glutamic acid and serine we re significantly (P < 0.05) reduced with the inclusion of LLM. Associa ted with an increased crude protein intake, there was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the amount of absorbed EAA when the proportion of LLM was increased in the diet. With increasing proportion of fibre in the diet, there was a significant (P < 0.05) increase in the ileal fl ow of glucosamine. It can be concluded from the present data that the inclusion of LLM in a barley-based diet for growing pigs will result i n an improvement in the absorbed amino-acid profile due to a significa nt increase in the absorption of all of the EAA.