Effect of Tapioca Levels on Production of Swine

There is little definitive information available regarding tapioca’s effect on the swine performance and meat quality. Thus, this study was carried out. Thirty-six cross-bred [(Landrace × Yorkshire) × Duroc] growing-finishing swine with their average initial BW of 26.5±2.1 kg was used in this study. The animals were fed with control (no addition of tapioca), treatment 1 (T1 – 10% tapioca) and treatment 2 (T2 – 20% tapioca) for different periods (tapioca as-fed basis). The experimental period lasted for 98d. Carcass characteristics, physicochemical properties, meat composition and sensory test were not significantly different among treatments except for the carcass weight which was increased (p<0.05) in the tapioca diet groups. Swine fed with tapioca-replaced diet has no detrimental effects on growth performance or meat quality. Instead, it significantly increased the carcass weight. Therefore, we conclude that tapioca replacement of 20% can aid as alternative feed ingredient of energy source in improving carcass weight for growing-finishing swine.