Dried biogas slurry as a nutrient source in growing pig diets

Two feeding experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of including dried biogas slurry (DBS) on the performance of growing pigs. In each experiment, 36 growing pigs were limit-fed diets containing 0, 5,10, and 20% DBS substituted (w/w) for coconut oil cake and rice bran. The results suggest that DBS is potentially useful as a nutrient source in growing pig diets. The inclusion of up to 10% DBS in diets had no adverse effect on gain and feed efficiency, whereas 20% DBS inclusion depressed performance which may be attributed to its high fibre and low available energy contents. The merits of biogas slurry over the raw manure and the practical limitations to its use are discussed.