Three-level Evaluation of Chopped Sugar Cane (Saccharum officinarum L.) Stems in the Diet of Pigs

Resumen

In order to integrate alternative plant sources of energy in the diet of swine weaned in the stages of growth and fin-ishing, twenty, Landrace x Yorkshire castrated animals were used in this study. Their diets contained 15% and 13% crude protein. Fresh unpeeled sugar cane stems were chopped and included in the diet, at 15%, 20%, and 25% (growth stage); and 25%, 30%, and 35% (finish stage). The trial lasted 14 weeks. A completely randomized block design was used, with four treatments and five replicas; the Duncan´s significance test (5% probability) was also made. The inclusion of 30% sugar cane stalks from stems produced the highest mean weight values (83.80 kg P < 0.05). The highest weight gain value was observed in the pigs that consumed diets that included 20% sugar cane, whereas the best values for the finish stage was the 30% inclusion variant. The inclusion of 35% in the finish stage had the best feed conversion (2.19 kg/kg P < 0.05). The addition of 20-30% of chopped sugar cane stalks was rec-ommended to fatten pigs.