EFFECTS OF FEEDING DIETS CONTAINING RICE DISTILLER’S BY-PRODUCT ON GROWTH PERFORMANCE, CARCASS CHARACTERISTICS AND MEAT QUALITY OF FATTENING PIGS

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of feeding diets containing rice distiller’s by-product (RDP) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality of fattening pigs. A total of 24 castrated male crossbred pigs Duroc × (Landrace × Yorkshire) were used for the experiment. Pigs were divided randomly by weight into 3 diets, with 4 replications of 2 pigs in each pen. Pigs were fed one of 3 diets including DAR0 (control), DAR15 (15% RDP) and DAR30 (30% RDP in dry matter) during 8 weeks. The results showed that diets with increasing RDP did not affected average daily gain (P=0.09) and feed conversion ratio (P=0.08), while feed cost was decreased (P<0.001). Carcass traits was not significantly different between diets (P>0.06), however back fat thickness was increased by RDP levels (P=0.03). Drip loss of Longissimus dorsi muscle at 24 and 48 hours were increased (P<0.05), whereas there were not effect on pH value and meat color at 45 min, 24and 48 hours postmortem. Lipids content was increased (P<0.01), whereas protein content was not influenced by RDP in diets. This suggests that the use the diet
with 30% RDP for fattening pigs can improve lipids content of Longissimus dorsi muscle and reduce feed costs while not affecting growth performance and meat quality.