Effect of Heliotropium indicum Leaf Powder Supplemented Diets on Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics of Weaned Pigs

Abstract

A 60 day experiment was carried out at Sumitra Research Institute, Gujarat, India to examine the effect of Heliotropium indicum leaf powder supplemented diets on growth performance and carcass characteristics of weaned pigs. A total of 50 crossbred male pigs (Landrace × Duroc) with initial body weight of 9.06 ± 0.44 kg weaned at 30 days of age were randomly divided into five treatments with six replicates (1 pig per replicate) and fed three experimental diets. Treatment 1; corn-soybeal mean (regular diet) without Heliotropium indicum leaf powder (control), treatment 2: regular diet with 0.50 g neomycin/kg diet while treatment 3, 4 and 5 received regular diet supplemented with Heliotropium indicum leaf powder at 100 g, 200g and 300 g per kg diet. A completely design was adopted and animals had unrestricted access to clean water and feed. Experimental results revealed that average daily body weight and average daily feed consumption varied from 0.14 to 0.26 kg and 0.71 to 0.82 kg respectively were higher among pigs in treatment 3, 4 and 5, intermediate in treatment 2 and lower in treatment 1 (p˂0.05). Increasing the dietary supplementation of Heliotropium indicum leaf powder decreased the feed to gain ratio from 5.25 to 3.15 (p˂0.05). Dressing percentage and weights of hind limbs, fore limbs, head, back, belly, heart, lungs and kidney were significantly (p˂0.05) influenced except for the spleen (p˃0.05). It was concluded that supplementing Heliotropium indicum leaf powder up to 300 g/kg in the diet of weaned pigs influenced their growth and pose no negative effect on the health status of animals.