DIGESTIBILITY OF NUTRIENTS AND ANTI NUTRIENT OF GROWING PIGS FED WITH WHOLE FERMENTED TAMARIND SEEDS

Abstract

Tamarind seeds are nutritious but they have hard seed coats and contain anti-nutrient called tannin. Feed
processing, by soaking the seeds in water and fermenting them with soluble carbohydrate, was believed to
increase the nutrient content, which should enhance digestibility in pigs. As a continuation of Experiment I, the
objective of Experiment II was to evaluate the digestibility of nutrient and anti-nutrient in growing boar pigs fed
fermented whole tamarind seeds. Twenty-five of three to four-month-old of growing boar crossbred Landrace
were fed with one of the five following dietary treatments in five replicates. The treatments were R0 = diet
without fermented tamarind seeds or diet with fermented tamarind seeds, where the seeds were soaked in water
for 2 d and fermented with 20% palm juice for 72 h (R1) or 108 h (R2); or the seeds were soaked in water for 4
d and fermented with 20% palm juice for 72 h (R3) or 108 h (R4). The variables measured were the digestibility
of nutrient and anti-nutrients of the fermented tamarind seeds. Results showed that R1, R2, R3, and R4
increased nutrient and anti-nutrient digestibility. In short, before fed to pigs whole tamarind seeds should be
soaked in water and fermented with palm juice to enhance feed digestibility. It was suggested to soak the seeds
in water for 2 d before fermented them with 20% palm juice for 72 h.
Keywords: soaking, borassus palm juice, boar, grower