AICRP on Pigs, Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University College of Veterinary Science, Tirupati – 517 502, India
*Corresponding author's e-mail: mv_an.surya@yahoo.co.in
Online published on 2 August, 2014.
In a completely randomized design, 24 crossbred (LWY X Desi) male pigs (16.4± 0.25 kg) were divided at random into 4 equal groups to study the effect of supplementing(%) citric acid at 0.6 (T1), 0.9 (T2) and 1.2 (T3) and 0 (T4) to the grower (15–35 kg) ration on nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance and growth performance. The digestibility of DM, CP, NFE and N retention were higher (P< 0.01) in T2 as compared to other groups. The ADG and the efficiency of feed utilization was also higher in (P< 0.05) in T2 in comparison to others. It was concluded that citric acid supplementation at 0.9% in the diet was beneficial in improving the nutrient digestibility and daily gain of crossbred pigs
ADG, Citric acid, FCR, Growth performance, Nutrient digestibility, Pigs
