CARCASS AND SLAUGHTER TRAITS OF WEANLING PIGS FED GRADED LEVELS OF WILD SUNFLOWER ( TITHONIA DIVERSIFOLIA ) LEAF MEAL

Growing pigs were used to assess the slaughter and carcass characteristics, organs and primal cut yields when fed diets supplemented with processed leaves of Tithonia diversifolia (wild sunflower) referred to as Tithonia diversifolia leaf meal (TDLM). A 63-day feeding trial was conducted with commercially available male Large White growing weanling pigs on four experimental diets containing 19.0% crude protein and a digestible energy value of 2997 kcal/kg. Tithonia diversifolia leaf meal (TDLM) progressively replaced soybeans at 10%, 20% and 30% inclusion levels in diets 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Carcass yields for pigs on 10% TDLM were similar (p>0.05) to the values obtained for pigs on the control diet without TDLM. Most other carcass parameters such as carcass length, chest width, trochanter width and leg length were similar (p>0.05) and variations where they existed were minimal. Slaughter traits such as live weight at slaughter, empty slaughter weight, dead weight and back fat depth were significantly better (p