Apparent digestibility of dry and organic matter in Chinese potato rejection tubers (Colocasia esculenta (L.) Schott) in pigs.

The experiment was carried out at the Amazon Research, Postgraduate and Conservation Center (CIPCA) of the Amazon State University, where two levels of substitution of Chinese potato flour in the diet of growing pigs were evaluated for the effect, 3 animals were used castrated males resulting from crossbreeding (Largewhite x Duroc x Pietrain), with an initial average weight of 25 kg. The animals were placed in 3 metabolic cages and fed a control diet (T1) and two experimental diets T2 (20%) and T3 (40%) of Chinese potato rejection tuber flour. Food consumption was adjusted at a rate of 0.10 kg.MS.kg PV0.75 day^-1. Fed twice a day (08:00 am and 3:00 pm) with drinking water at will. The research consisted of three stages, and divided into two phases, (one of adaptation to the diets with a duration of five days and the other phase of five days for stool collection). The feces weres collected in the morning, by the total collection method, stored in hermetic bags and kept refrigerated for the evaluation of the apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM) and organic matter (MO). The experiment was conducted through a 3x3 Latin square design; the comparison of means was performed with the Newman Keuls test (P≤0.05). Chinese potato tuber meal showed high coefficients (P≤0.05) of dry matter digestibility (DM), being higher in T2 (96.06%) and T3 (94.19%) with respect to control. However, in organic matter (MO) there were no significant differences (P> 0.05) between treatments: T1 (99.63%); T2 (99.62%) and T3 (99.67%). The inclusion of 20 and 40% of Chinese potato tuber meal in the diet of fattened pigs (largewhite x Duroc x Pietrain) did not affect the digestibility of MO. The best digestibility coefficient of the DM was obtained by replacing 20% ​​of the corn with Chinese potato tubers meal, so that Chinese potato rejection can be used in pig feeding