Abstract
The digestibility of organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), ether extract and amino acids of a cassava root meal and rice bran diet, without (Basal) and with inclusion of fish meal (FM) or fresh (FSB) or ensiled (ESB) shrimp by-product in growing pigs (Large White$\times$Mong Cai) fitted with post-valve T-caecum (PVTC) cannulas was studied in a $4{\times}4$ change-over experiment. Significantly higher ileal digestibility of OM in the basal and FM diets and lower ileal digestibility of CP in the basal and ESB diets were found (p<0.05). Total tract digestibilities of OM and CP of diet ESB were lower (p<0.05) than in the other diets. The apparent ileal digestibilities of most amino acids were higher (p<0.05) in diets FM, FSB and ESB than in the basal diet. There was no difference (p>0.05) in the ileal digestibility of individual amino acids between diets FM, FSB and ESB, except for threonine, alanine and glycine. The estimated apparent ileal digestibility of individual amino acids in ensiled shrimp by-product was lower (p<0.05) than in fresh shrimp by-product and fish meal. In conclusion, as a result of the reduced daily intake of the diets containing shrimp by-products and lower ileal and total tract digestibility of both fresh and ensiled shrimp by-products complete replacement of fish meal cannot be recommended. The ensiled shrimp by-product was inferior nutritionally compared with fresh shrimp by-product. However, lower daily feed intakes of both the FSB and ESB diets suggest that the replacement should only be made partially, in order not to reduce the overall performance.