2. Effect of different ratios of water spinach and fresh cassava leaves on growth of pigs fed basal diets of broken rice or mixture of rice bran and cassava root meal

Authors: Chhay Ty and Preston T R 2006.
Livestock Research for Rural Development. Volume 18, Article # 27. Retrieved, from http://www.cipav.org.co/lrrd/lrrd18/02/chha18027.htm

ummary : The experiment was carried out from 8 August to 6 December 2005 in the Center for Livestock and Agriculture Development (CelAgrid), located in Kandal village, Rolous Commune, Kandal Steung district, Kandal province, about 25km from Phnom Penh City, Cambodia .Twenty four crossbred (Local*Landrace or Local*Duroc) castrated male pigs with mean initial body weight of 14.6 and 20.3 kg were allocated to six treatments with 4 replicates per treatment in a 2*3 factorial arrangement with two energy sources (broken rice and cassava root meal mixed with rice bran) and three proportions of water spinach (WS) and fresh cassava leaves (FCL) in ratios (DM basis) (WS 10% and FCL 90%, WS 20% and FCL 80% and WS 30% and FCL 70%). The pigs were housed in individual pens with concrete floors and provided with feeders and drinking nipples. The leaves plus stems of the water spinach and the leaves of cassava (after removing stems and petioles) were chopped into small pieces and wilted over-night and then mixed with the other ingredients of the diet before being offered in 3 meals at 8.00, 12.00 and 17.00h. The amounts of feeds offered were based on the allowance of 40 g DM per 1 kg live weight of the pigs, with the broken rice (or mixture of rice bran and cassava root meal) supplying 50% and  the mixtures of leaves providing the remainder. 

bstract: Twenty four crossbred (Local*Landrace or Local*Duroc) castrated male pigs weighing from 14.6 to 20.3 kg were used in a 2*3 factorial arrangement to study the effect of (i) different levels of substitution of wilted cassava leaves by water spinach; and (ii) a basal diet of broken rice or a mixture (50:50) of rice bran and cassava root meal. The feeding trial lasted for 120 days from 8 August to 6 December 2005. Higher intakes of water spinach and cassava leaves, and of total DM, were observed when the basal diet was broken rice rather than rice bran mixed with cassava root meal. Increasing the replacement of cassava leaves by water spinach from 10 to 30% resulted in increases in intake of the energy component, in the total quantity of foliage, and of total DM. Growth rates tended to be higher on the broken rice diet than on rice bran and cassava root meal; while the 30% level of water spinach was superior to the 10% level. The overall trend of live weight gain as a function of level of water spinach was curvilinear and positive, indicating a synergistic effect on performance from mixing increasing amounts of water spinach with fresh cassava leaves.