Nutrition of the Collared Peccary in South Texas

Effects of growth, reproduction, sex, age, season, and diet quality on collared peccary (Tayassu tajacu) digestion and assimilation efficiencies, and on nutrient requirements of peccaries in south Texas are presented. Five metabolism trials were conducted with 10 collared peccaries fed either a concentrate diet or a forage diet representing the seasonal diet of free-living peccaries. Dry matter digestibility ranged from 49-72% for natural diets and was 84% for concentrate. Mean true digestibilities for energy, nitrogen, and phosphorus were 68, 46, and 70%, respectively, for natural diets and 89, 81, and 87%, respectively, for concentrate. Digestibility of the diet was directly related to nitrogen in the diet and the age of the animal and inversely related to consumption, gross energy, phosphorus, fiber, and ash in the diet. Mean true assimilation efficiencies for energy, nitrogen, and phosphorus were 64, 31, and 84%, respectively, for natural diets and 86, 58, and 84%, respectively, for concentrate. Maintenance requirements for adult, nonreproductive animals were 148.5 kcal/kg MBW/day of digestible energy (136.9 kcal/kg MBW/day of assimilated energy), 0.837 g/kg MBW/day of digestible nitrogen, and 0.844 g/kg MBW/day of digestible phosphorus. Daily energy requirements were directly related to growth and reproductive activity (increasing with duration of pregnancy and lactation) and inversely related to ambient temperature and age of animal.