PSII-14 - Economic impact of adding exogenous enzymes in a sorghum-based diet for growing and finishing pigs

Abstract: The food efficiency in production aims for better productive results in weight gain and reduction of dietary costs. Sorghum is a great cereal to the use in pig feed, but it has a high concentration of phytate than corn, which is not degraded by monogastric animals. The addition of exogenous enzymes aims to increase nutrient digestibility, providing greater efficiency of use. The study aim to evaluate the performance of the animals and the economic viability of the joint use of protease and phytase in sorghum-based diets of sorghum for finishing pigs. The experiment was carried out on a commercial farm, in Patos de Minas, Minas Gerais, Brazil. 240 commercial hybrid pigs (70 days old and 26kg) were used. Individually identified and distributed in pens respecting weight and sex blocks in a randomized block design, two treatments with 12 replications each were evaluated, totaling 24 experimental plots, with ten animals each. In treatment 1, control diet based on sorghum and soybean meal (SBM) with phytase 600 FYT/kg of feed (HiPhorius™); and treatment 2, same composition as treatment 1 with addition of 30,000 NFP/kg of feed of protease (ProAct 360®). The diets were formulated according to Brazilian tables and use nutritional matrix of enzymes (phytase and protease), excepted in control group. At 0, 48, 70 and 89 days of the experiment, the animals were weighed individually, and all the food provided was weighed and the leftovers were quantified, providing information for calculating the variables: average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and feed conversion ratio (FCR). The feeding program costs were calculated. The results were submitted to the variance test (ANOVA), using the statistical program SAS, version 9.4. The difference between mean values was considered statistically significant when p value < 0.050, using the Turkey test. There was no statistical difference (p >0.05) between treatments in relation to ADFI between 0-49 days (p=0.110), 0-70 days (p=0.431) and 0-89 days of experiment (p=0.490). There was also no impact on ADG at 0-49 days (p=0.325), 0-70 days (p=0.834) and 0-89 experimental days (p=0.915); and FCR at 0-49 days (p=0.304), 0-70 days (p=0.470) and 0-89 experimental days (p=0.177). Although, there was no effect on the performance indices evaluated in this study, the use of exogenous enzymes such as proteases can have an economic impact on the composition of the pig diet, as it reduced the nutritional cost, increased the revenue per pig produced, increased the margin on feed in 1.06% and reducing the cost per kilogram produced by 1.18%. Therefore, the association of protease and phytase showed a significant economic impact when used in diets based on sorghum and SBM for growing and finishing pigs, even with no direct impact on performance indices.