The reproductive performance of breeding sows fed diets containing cocoa-cake-with-shell and dried cocoa husk

English

The reproductive performance of breeding sows fed diets containing the cocoa by-products, namely cocoa-cake-withe shell (CCWS) and dried cocoa husk (DCH), over a long period was investigated. Large White primiparous sows were distributed over four dietary treatments made up of diets I (Control), 2 (5% COWS), 3 (10% DCH) and 4 (20% DCH). The sows were fed the breeder diets during pregnancy, then the corresponding location diets on farrowing. For all sows, there was no depression in the litter sizes between the first and the second parities. Average litter size for second and third parities were 11.8, 12.5, 12.0 and 11.0 for Diets l, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Average birth weight of the piglets were 1.42 kg, 1.16 kg, 1.27 kg and 1.21 kg for Diets 1, 2, 3 and 4. The corresponding average weaning weights were 6.33, 6.41, 5.57 and 4.94 kg. The results showed that it is possible to include cocoa by-products in the diet of breeding sows at the rate of 5 per cent för CC WS and 10 or 20 per cent for DCH. These levels showed no detrimental effects on the reproductive performance of the sows.

Rhule, S. W. A.; Wallace, P. A.; Otchere, E. O.