What feeding value does potato have for pigs?

1. Nutritional characteristics

Potato has high yield, relatively low crude fiber content in tubers (4.4%), and high protein biological value. About 80% of the tuber dry matter is starch. Calculated by the amount of digestible energy and protein produced per unit area, it is higher than general crops. Its energy value is slightly higher than sweet potato, but lower than corn;

The crude protein content is about 9%, higher than cassava and sweet potato, and the lysine content is higher than corn;

The carotene content is extremely low, and other vitamin contents are close to corn.

Potato contains trypsin inhibitor, which hinders protein digestion.

Potato plants contain a ligand, a toxic substance called solanine, with the highest content in berries (0.56%-1.08% of fresh weight), followed by light-exposed young sprouts (0.37%-0.73%). Livestock and poultry will be poisoned if they eat too much.

2. Feeding value

Potato has good palatability, and the feeding effects on cattle, sheep and horses are similar whether fed raw or cooked. But for pigs, cooked feeding can improve palatability and digestibility, while raw feeding not only reduces digestibility, but also hinders growth. Steaming and boiling potato can improve its digestibility. Under the same feeding conditions, the weight gain effect of cooked feeding is better than that of raw feeding. In the vast rural areas of our country, potato is a high-quality feed for pigs.

Potato meal processed by slicing, drying and crushing can be added at 20%-30% in broiler feed, about 10% in laying hen diets, and can replace 50% of corn in meat pig feed. As a supplementary concentrate for ruminant livestock, such as when used together with non-protein nitrogen such as urea, the effect is even better.

Normally mature potato contains only 2-10 mg solanine per kg of fresh weight, and the risk of poisoning occurs only when the content reaches more than 20 mg. Therefore, when potato is used as feed, there is generally no risk of poisoning. Only during tuber storage, when potato is stored improperly and sprouts after exposure to sunlight and turns green, the solanine content increases sharply, generally being highest on the green skin of tubers, in the eyes and sprouts. Therefore, before feeding sprouted potato, the sprouts and green parts must be removed, and it must be steamed or boiled. The water used for boiling cannot be used.