Potential to mitigate ammonia emission from slurry by increasing dietary fermentable fiber through inclusion of tropical byproducts in practical diets for growing pigs

Objective Research was conducted to test the effect of including fiber-rich feedstuffs in practical pig diets on nutrient digestibility, nitrogen balance and ammonia emissions from slurry. Methods Three Vietnamese fiber sources were screened, namely cassava leaf meal (CL), cassava root residue (CR), and tofu by-product (TF). Accordingly, a control diet (Con) with 10% of dietary non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and three test diets including one of the three fiber-rich feedstuffs to reach 15% of NSP were formulated. All formulated diets had the same level of crude protein (CP), in vitro ileal protein digestible and metabolisable energy, whereas the in vitro hindgut volatile fatty acid (VFA) production of the test diets was 12% to 20% higher than the control diet. Forty growing barrows with initial body weight at 28.6±1.93 kg (mean±standard deviation) were allocated to the four treatments. When pigs reached about 50 kg of body weight, four pigs from each treatment were used for a nitrogen balance trial and ammonia emission assessment, the remaining six pigs continued the second period of the feeding trial. Results The TF treatment increased fecal VFA by 33% as compared with the control treatment (p = 0.07), suggesting stimulation of the hindgut fermentation. However, urinary N was not significantly reduced or shifted to fecal N, nor was slurry pH decreased. Accordingly, ammonia emissions were not mitigated. CR and CL treatments failed to enhance in vivo hindgut fermentation, as assessed by fecal VFA and purine bases. On the contrary, the reduction of CP digestibility in the CL treatment enhanced ammonia emissions from slurry. Conclusion Dietary inclusion of cassava and tofu byproducts through an increase of dietary NSP from 10% to 15% might stimulate fecal VFA excretion but this does not guarantee a reduction in ammonia emissions from slurry, while its interaction with protein digestibility even might enhance enhanced ammonia emission.