Chemical composition, energy content and amino acid digestibility in cottonseed meals fed to growing pigs

ABSTRACT Two experiments were conducted to determine the content of digestible energy (DE) and metabolisable energy (ME) as well as the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and standardised ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids in cottonseed meal (CSM) for growing pigs. In Experiment 1, 78 growing pigs (51.1？±？4.2？kg) were randomly allotted to 1 of 13 diets, including a corn–soybean meal basal diet and 12 CSM test diets. In Experiment 2, 11 growing barrows (55.2？±？4.1？kg) were allotted to 6 × 11 Youden square with 6 periods and 11 diets. The diets included a N-free diet and 10 CSM test diets. The chemical composition of CSM varied among samples. The DE and ME also differed (p？<？0.05) among the 12 CSM samples. The AID and SID of CP varied largely (p？<？0.05) and of indispensable amino acids (AA) except for the tryptophan and valine varied largely (p？<？0.05) among CSM samples. The results of the experiments indicated that there are significant variabilities in the chemical composition, energy content and the SID and AID of CP and AA among the CSM samples