Sugarcane ( Saccharum officinarum) byproducts, such as molasses and bagasse, are currently being used as animal feed. However, there is little study on sugarcane syrup (SCS), an intermediate product made from sugarcane juice by boiling for several hours to reduce the water. This study, conducted at Cantho University in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam, focused on the efficiency of SCS utilization in pig diet.

Adaptability

In the Mekong Delta region, one of the major grain-producing areas of Vietnam, a very high percentage of raw rice bran is used as pig feed. Farmers also use commercial feed to compensate for nutritional imbalances, but its high cost often causes financial burden to the producers. Hence, greater usage of locally available but underutilized feed resources such as water spinach ( Ipomoea aquatica) and water hyacinth ( Eichrornia crassipes) is being encouraged. The study was conducted to develop an appropriate technique for some areas in the region where pigs are fed with a very high percentage of raw rice bran, and where sugarcane cultivation and small-scale factories are located nearby the husbandry.

Diet Formulation

Three experiments were conducted in a study using basal diet with a high percentage of rice bran. In the first two experiments, 0-8% of control diets were replaced by SCS to make treatment diets. In the third experiment, the treatment diets contained 10% sweet potato ( Ipomoea batatas L.) vine (SPV), or 10% SPV and 3% SCS.

Effectiveness

• 1) SCS is as palatable to the animal as the juice, and can be stored for much longer periods than the juice.
• 2) The feed cost could be reduced using SCS, because it is cheaper compared with commercial feed, even with rice bran.
• 3) 4% SCS in the diet was optimal to improve weight gain, satisfy the feed requirements and improve the digestibility of crude protein and acid detergent fiber of pigs ( Fig. 1 & Fig. 2).
• 4) SPV could be used up to 10% with no negative effects on weight gain, feed requirement, or digestibility of CP and CF, provided 3% SCS was also added to the diet ( Fig. 1 & Fig. 2).
• 5) The application of SCS with higher percentage of green plants, such as water plants and agricultural byproducts, in the diet is of great interest, since huge amount of these green plants is available in the region, although the productivity of some shows seasonal changes.

Caution

• 1) The supplementation of excess amount of SCS might result to thick and soft fat deposition of pigs.
• 2) As small-scale factories which process SCS are now declining even in the Mekong Delta region, where the experiment was done, the condition of the usage is rather limited.
• 3) Further evaluation of SCS as a feed supplement is necessary.

Index of Images

Figure 1 Feed Requirements (Feed Intake/Weight Gain). C1-3: Control Diets in Experiments 1-3. S2-8: Diets in Which , in Experiments 1-2, 2-8% of Control Diets Were Replaced by Sugarcane Syrup. V10: Diets in Which, in Experiment 3, 10% of the Control Diet Was Replaced by Sweet Potato Vine. V10S: Diets in Which , in Experiment 3, 10 and 3% of the Control Diet Were Replaced by Sweet Potato Vine and Sugarcane Syrup, Respectively.

Figure 2 Digestibility (%). (See Fig. 1. C, D: P < 0.05)

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