Nutritive value of sorghum grains with different endosperm textures for piglets

Twenty hogs averaging 28kg were used in a biological assay based on total feces and urine collection method. The dry matter apparent digestibility (DMAD), the crude protein apparent digestibility (CPAD), the apparent digestible energy (ADE), and the apparent metabolizable energy (AME) values of the sorghum grains with different endosperm texture were calculated. The evaluated genotypes were: BR 007B (soft texture), BR 304 (intermediate texture), and SC 283 (hard texture). The test diets were composed by 70% of reference diet (based on corn and soybean meal) and 30% of sorghum grain. The experiment was a complete random design, with four treatments and five replicates. The DMAD, CPAD, ADE, and AME values, on dry matter basis, calculated for the genotype BR 007B were 97.1%, 89.7%, 3,840kcal/kg, and 3,685kcal/kg; for the genotype BR 304 they were 92.0%, 82.9%, 3,645kcal/kg, and 3,544kcal/kg; and for the genotype SC 283 they were 83.3%, 78.5%, 3,078kcal/kg, and 3,021kcal/kg, respectively. All analyzed variables presented higher values (P<0.05) for the genotype BR 007B in relation to the genotype SC 283, demonstrating the negative influence of the endosperm texture on the nutritional value of the sorghum grains for swine.