Effects of inclusion levels of wheat bran and body weight on ileal and fecal digestibility in growing pigs

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of graded inclusions of wheat bran (0%, 9.65%, 48.25% wheat bran) and two growth stages (from 32.5 to 47.2 kg and 59.4 to 78.7 kg, respectively) on the apparent ileal digestibility (AID), apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and hindgut fermentation of nutrients and energy in growing pigs. Six light pigs (initial body weight [BW] 32.5±2.1 kg) and six heavy pigs (initial BW 59.4±3.2 kg) were surgically prepared with a T-cannula in the distal ileum. A difference method was used to calculate the nutrient and energy digestibility of wheat bran by means of comparison with a basal diet consisting of corn-soybean meal (0% wheat bran). Two additional diets were formulated by replacing 9.65% and 48.25% wheat bran by the basal diet, respectively. Each group of pigs was allotted to a 6×3 Youden square design, and pigs were fed to three experimental diets during three 11-d periods. Hindgut fermentation values were calculated as the differences between ATTD and AID values. For the wheat bran diets, the AID and ATTD of dry matter (DM), ash, organic matter (OM), carbohydrates (CHO), gross energy (GE), and digestible energy (DE) decreased with increasing inclusion levels of wheat bran (p