Performance and total tract nutrient digestibility of growing pigs fed hulless low phytate barley

Woyengo, T. A., Akinremi, O. O., Rossnagel, B. G. and Nyachoti, C. M. 2012. Performance and total tract nutrient digestibility of growing pigs fed hulless low phytate barley. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 92: 505-511. An experiment was conducted to determine the performance and nutrient digestibility of growing pigs fed hulless low phytate (HLP) barley without or with phytase for 28 d. Twenty-four growing pigs (average initial body weight = 25.3 kg) were fed three diets in a completely randomised design. The diets included a regular-hulled barley-based diet, and a HLP barley-based diet without or with phytase at 500 phytase units kg(-1). Pigs fed the HLP barley-based diet without phytase had greater (P < 0.05) average daily gain (0.911 vs. 0.717 kg), and apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, energy, P. Mg, and Na were higher (P < 0.05) than the regular barley-based diet. Supplementation of phytase to the H LP barley-based diet resulted in improved (P < 0.05) feed conversion efficiency (0.506 vs. 0.547 kg kg(-1)), and apparent total tract digestibility of N. P and K. In conclusion, pigs fed the H LP barley-based diet had higher growth performance and nutrient digestibility than those fed the regular-hulled barley-based diet, indicating that the H LP barley is a better source of nutrients for pigs than regular barley. Phytase supplementation to the H LP barley-based diet can result in a further increase in nutrient utilisation by pigs.