Effects of treating Prosopis juliflora pods with multienzyme, with and without bacterial cultures on in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), fermentation kinetics, and performance of growing pigs.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of treating Prosopis juliflora pods with multienzyme and bacterial cultures on in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), fermentation kinetics, and performance of growing pigs. Experiment one consisted of a pepsin-pancreatine hydrolysis method to simulate, in vitro, the pig digestive system and was followed by in vitro gas production to assess fermentation kinetics. Samples of ground Prosopis pod meal (GPPM) were allocated to four treatments with three replicates each. Treatments included GPPM treated with multienzyme (Natuzyme®) (T1); untreated (GPPM) (T2); GPPM fermented with (Lactobacillus plantarum MTD1 Ecosyl ®) (T3), and GPPM treated using natural fermentation (T4). The second experiment assessed the performance of pigs fed the best treatment from experiment 1. Thirty Landrace × large white crosses of 20 ± 2 kg were allotted to five treatments with six pigs each (replicates). The dietary treatments were PC, 0% GPPM + enzyme; NC, 0% GPPM and 0% enzyme; D1, 10% GPPM + enzyme; D2, 20% GPPM + enzyme; and D3, 30% GPPM + enzyme. A randomized complete block design was used for both experiments. Enzyme treatment (T1) and T3 improved the IVDMD of the GPPM compared to T2 by 3.68% and 1.2%, respectively (p < 0.05). Cumulative gas was highest and Tmax lowest for T1 but significantly different only to T4 (p < 0.05). Average daily gain and intake were highest for pigs fed GPPM up to 10% (PC, D1). Feed conversion ratio increased with the level of GPPM in the diet. The results suggest Prosopis juliflora pods treated with enzymes can be added in pig diets up to 30%.