Akovbovbo et alManagement

Waste / Waste Management and Bioresource

and Bioresource Technology
Technology 2 (2012) 28-13
(2012) 8-13

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Waste Management and Bioresource Technology

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Performance Evaluations of Weaner Pigs Fed Graded Levels of Water Hya-

cinth (eicchornia crassipes).
G. Akovbovbo1, P.K. Ajuogu,2 J.N. Akankali2, O.S.George2 and M.A. Yahaya1
1
Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Rivers State University of Science Technology Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nigeria
2
Department of Animal Science and Fisheries, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Port Harcourt, Choba East west Road Rivers State, Nigeria

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Article history: The study was carried out to investigate the influence of water hyacinth on
Accepted: performance of weaner pigs. Twenty four (24) cross bred (large white and
Available online: 6 December 2012 landrace) weaner male and female pigs of average initial live weight of 10-
12kg were randomly allotted to four (4) dietary treatments, in a completely
randomized experimental design (CRD) which was further replicated thrice
with two pigs per replicate. The plant (water hyacinth) was freshly harvested,
dehydrated, ground and used to formulate pig diets at different levels of inclu-
sion. The weaner pigs were fed water hyacinth (Eicchornia crassipes) based
Keywords: feeds at dietary levels of 0%, 10%, 20% and 30% for 70 days. Eicchornia
crassipes was used to replace Soya bean meal at 10% in treatment II, 20% in
Performance, treatment III, 30% in treatment IV respectively, while treatment I had no wa-
Weaner Pigs, ter hyacinth and served as the control diet. Water and feed were offered ad
Water Hyacinth, libitum .From the results, the mean feed intake significantly increased
(P<0.05) with increasing level of water hyacinth in the diets. Body weight
gain, feed conversion ratio and protein efficiency showed no significant dif-
ference (P>0.05) between the control and the treatments. It was therefore in-
ferred and concluded that feeding weaner pigs with water hyacinth improve
performance and therefore a long term control measure of water hyacinth in
our coastal water ways.

© 2012 woaj Ltd. All rights reserved

1. Introduction among the highest of any known plant; the population

Water hyacinth (Eicchornia crassipes) is a
common feature in many fresh and marine water bodies
in Nigeria particularly in the Nigeria Delta. Often, this
plant covers large proportion of the water bodies thereby
reducing the water utilization potential. Its growth rate is
* Corresponding author.
email address: peter.ajuogu@uniport.edu.ng
2012 woaj Ltd. All rights reserved
can double in less than 10 days [1].
It is a free floating aquatic plant, which grows
up to 1m in height. It has think waxy rounded glossy
leaves, which rise above the water surface on stalks. The
plant can grow and survive in takes, streams, rivers,
ponds, ditches and in any water way [1]. It is believed
that this plant originated from tropical South America
but has become naturalized in many warm water areas
of the world including the Niger Delta in Nigeria [2]. In
Nigeria today, water hyacinth has invaded virtually all
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 Akovbovbo et al / Waste Management and Bioresource Technology 2 (2012) 8-13
the costal river systems of Nigeria – Benin, Escravos,
Nun, Forcados Rivers, among others [3].
The nutritional value of water hyacinth varies
depending on the age, part of the plant, nutrient status
and contamination of the surrounding water body [1].
According to Aletor and Omodara [4], the energy con-
tent varies from 2300-2600 DEK cal/kg, crude protein
(20-26%) crude fibre (14-16%), dry matter (13.5-
17.2%), ether extract (3.92-5.85%) and Ash (10-10%). It
is also rich in essential amino acids and minerals [4].
Soya bean meal is one of the major sources of protein
concentrates in Nigeria used in the production of feeds
for livestock and poultry. However its high cost as a
result of increasing demand caused by the competition
between man and animals limits its economic use in
profitable livestock production.
Pigs are monogastric animals which belong to
the species Sus scrofa. In Nigeria today, the single most
important determining factor working against profitable
pig production is the increasing scarcity, competition
and consequent high cost of the conventional feed ingre-
dients especially protein sources e.g. soya bean meal,
groundnut cake, fish meal etc. The present high cost of
conventional feed ingredients presents a need to investi-
gate alternative, cheaper but high quality feed ingredi-
ents for swine and poultry industry [5]. Pigs have ad-
vantage of efficiently conversion of unconventional
plants and plant by-products to high quality meat.
Most of the efforts and strategies (mechanical,
chemical and biological) to control the invasive and
noxious water hyacinth have not been economically
viable and where they are viable, they pollute the envi-
ronment and also attack or kill other inhabitants of the
environment [6].
Therefore, the real long-term viable solution to
the water hyacinth menace is to properly utilize it as a
resource by converting it into a useful feed ingredient in
swine nutrition. The technique to convert it to animal
feed may offer a positive hope for a viable long term
control measure without polluting the environment. It is
therefore the aim of this study to evaluate the perfor-
mance of pigs fed graded levels of water hyacinth.
Materials and methods
Location and duration of the Experiment
The study was carried out at Patico Farms Ni-
geria Limited located at Bomadi LGA of Delta State.
And the experiment lasted for 10 weeks (70 days).
Animals and Housing
Twenty four (24) healthy large White x Land-
race Weaner males and females pigs with initial live
weight of 10-12kg were housed in conventional standard
pig pen under the intensive system of management.
Experimental Design and Technical Procedure
Twenty four (24) large White weaner pigs of
both sexes with initial live weight of 10-12kg were ran-
domly allocated to four dietary treatments in a com-
pletely randomized design (CRD). And each treatment
replicated thrice with two pigs per replicate. According
to [7] based on the linear model as thus
Xij = U+ Ti + Eij
Where U = unknown constant
Ti = Treatment effect
Eij = Error Term
Xij = Value of any observation
The plant was harvested and washed clean. The
root and petioles were immediately removed and dis-
carded. After washing the leaves were immediately
chopped to an average size of about 2cm in length, sun
dried until crispy while still retaining the greenish col-
ouration and then later grounded to pass 0.5mm mesh
screen. The ground leaves were thereafter incorporated
into the basal diet at different levels of inclusion to re-
place Soya Bean Meal (SBM) weight for weight. A bal-
anced basal diet was formulated (treatment I) with SBM
as the protein source which is the control. The Soya
Bean Meal (SBM) in the basal diets was substituted with
different levels of water hyacinth (kg of kg) for the other
treatments. For example:
Treatment II 10% SBM replacement with water
hyacinth
Treatment III 20% SBM replacement with wa-
ter hyacinth
Treatment IV 30% SBM replacement with wa-
ter hyacinth. All diets were supplemented with vitamin/
mineral premix to meet NRC (8) nutrient requirement
for pigs (Table I below). Routine management opera-
tions such as regular cleaning and disinfection of pens,
provision of feed and water were carried out.
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 Akovbovbo et al / Waste Management and Bioresource Technology 2 (2012) 8-13

TABLE 1: Percentage Ingredient and Chemical Composition of Experimental Diets

Parameters Dietary Treatments

I (control) II III IV
Maize 46 46 46 46
Soya Bean Meal 30 20 10 0
Water Hyacinth 0 10 20 30
Palm Kernel Cake 20 20 20 20
Borne Meal 2.50 2.50 2.50 2.50
Salt 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50
Vitamin / Mineral Mix 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50
DL - Methionine 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
DL- Lysine 0.25 0.25 0.25 0.25
TOTAL 100 100 100 100

Chemical Composition
Crude protein (%) 20.80 18.91 17.02 15.12
Energy (DEKcal/kg) 2824.64 2807.61 2790.58 2773.55
Either extract (%) 4.09 4.23 4.37 4.52
Crude fibre (%) 5.27 6.12 6.96 7.81
Calcium 1.03 1.27 1.52 1.76
Phosphorus (%) 0.63 0.61 0.92 0.91
Lysine (%) 1.33 1.22 1.23 1.02
Methionine (%) 0.59 0.63 0.71 0.77

Vitamin / Mineral Premix (Animal Care Product).

The following were present 1kg Vit A – 10,000,000 I.U, D -2,000,000I.U, B1-0.75kg, Nicotinic acid –
25g, Calcium panthothenate 1.5g, B12 - 0.015g, K-2.5g, Biotine -0.4g, Folic acid - 8g, Iron-32g, Iodine -
0.8g, Manganese -64g and Zinc – 40.

Data collection and analysis

Data on production parameters i.e. feed intake, body weight gain/loss, feed conversion ratio, protein efficiency ratio,
mortality, were collected and subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) according to Steel and Torrie (7) and their
means separated using Duncan Multiple Test Range DMTR according to Duncan (9).

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 Akovbovbo et al / Waste Management and Bioresource Technology 2 (2012) 8-13

Results

Table 2: Performance Characteristics of Weaner Pigs Fed Graded Levels of Water Hyacinth

Parameters Dietary Treatment

I (Control) II III IV
Av. initial weight (kg) 10.34 10.28 10.25 10.47
Av. final weight (kg) 31.93 31.77 31.58 31.77
Av. Total weight gain (kg) 21.59 21.48 21.33 21.30
Av. weekly weight gain (kg) 21.16 ± 0.36 2.15 ± 0.38 2.13 ± 0.3 2.13 ± 0.28
Av. daily weight gain (kg) 0.308 ± 0.09 0.307 ± 0.08 0.305 ± 0.08 0.30 ± 0.10
Av. Total feed initial (kg) 54.71 55.85 58.01 60.03
Av. weekly feed intake (kg) 5.47 ± 0.16c 5.58 ± 0.13c 5.80 ± 0.12b 6.00 ± 0.18a
Av. daily feed intake (kg) 0.78 ± 0.14c 0.80 ± 0.14c 0.829 ± 0.10b 0.86 ± 0.12a
Av. weekly FCR (Feed: gain) 2.14 ± 0.08 2.19 ± 0.08 2.29 ± 0.06 2.37 ± 0.12
Average protein intake 1.14 ± 0.10 1.06 ± 0.13 0.99 ± 0.12 0.91 ± 0.11
Protein efficiency ratio 2.24 ± 0.16 2.40 ± 0.18 2.56 ± 0.12 2.78 ± 0.14
Mortality (1%) 0 0

ments on Average weekly FCR (feed : gain) between the

Within row, mean ± SEM with different super-
scripts differs significantly at (P < 0.05.)
The effect of treatment (Water Hyacinth) on
performance parameters are presented in Table 2 above.
Analysis of variance of the influence of water
hyacinth on average initial weight, average final weight,
average total weight gain, average weekly weight gain,
average daily weight gain, is not significantly different
(P > 0.05 between the control and the treatment groups.
There is mild insignificant progressive reduction of
weight with increasing levels of water hyacinth in the
ratio to compensate for reduction in the energy intake.
Also, there was significant difference (P <
0.05) on Average weekly feed intake and Average daily
feed intake amongst the treatment groups. The mean
weekly feed intake for pigs on the control diet (0%WH)
was 5.471kg and ranged from 5.58kg, 5.80kg and
6.00kg for diets II, III and IV respectively. The feed
intake for the pigs on diet IV (.30WH) and diet III 20%
differed significantly (P<0.05) from others, but there
was no significant difference (P>0.05) between diets II
and I.
There was no significant influence of the treat-
groups (P>0.05). Mild insignificant increase was ob-
served with increasing levels of water hyacinth with
highest and lowest in treatment IV (2.37) and I (2.14)
respectively.
Also weekly protein intake revealed no signifi-
cant influence (P>0.05) between the treatment groups.
There was a mild insignificant progressive decrease in
protein intake as water hyacinth increases. Protein effi-
ciency ratio had no significant difference between the
treatment groups (P >0.05). Treatments IV and I had the
highest and the least protein efficiently ratio. No mortal-
ity recorded.
Discussion
In animal studies, growth and performance are
an important index in evaluating productivity. In this
study, feed intake which showed significant difference
(P>0.05) between the treatment groups could probably
been due to the decreasing energy content of the feeds
with increasing level of water hyacinth substitution for
Soya bean meal. Water hyacinth has lower energy con-
tent than Soya bean meal. The result collaborates the
findings of [10, 11, 12]. They reported that feed intake
in animals is primarily regulated by the energy content
of the diet, since animals eat essentially to satisfying

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 Akovbovbo et al / Waste Management and Bioresource Technology 2 (2012) 8-13
their energy requirements. Thus the lower the calorie
unit of feed contains, the more the consumption of ani-
mals. This also agrees with [2] who observed that in-
crease fibre content of a diet correspondingly decrease
the digestible energy level of the diet and the animal has
to consume more feed to compensate for the decrease in
the digestible energy derived from increasing the crude
fibre content. A unit of water hyacinth used for the study
had a higher fibre content than equivalent unit of Soya
bean meal. Once more, the feed intakes recorded in this
study has within the recommended standards of [14, 8,
15] of average daily feed intake of 0.5 -1.81kg. Treat-
ment IV with the highest level of water hyacinth had the
highest average daily feed intake of 0.858kg while the
control had the lowest average daily feed intake of
0.782kg.
The results of the effect of water hyacinth on
body weight gain of the pigs between the treatment
groups showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). This
could be as a result of fairly adequate crude protein and
amino acid profile of water hyacinth which measure
fairly equally with that of soya bean meal which was
supposedly sufficient enough to cause the possible
weight increment. This agrees with the findings of
[16;17] who reported that pigs fed diets of protein con-
centration varying from 15% - 20% CP adequately sup-
plemented with lysine and methionine, gained sufficient
weight. [18] reported that pigs fed with 20% crude pro-
tein produced weight gains and feed efficiency compara-
ble to those fed 16% crude protein. The result of this
study agrees with the findings of [18]. Moreover, pigs
have a unique ability to eat, digest utilize, and covert
poor quality unconventional feed ingredients to high
quality meat.
The good weight gain of the pigs fed dietary
treatments could also be attributed to the presence of
non-toxic or non anti-nutritional factors in water hya-
cinth which would have inhibited growth. And this
agrees with [19] who reported that water hyacinth con-
tains no toxic or anti-nutritional substance that depresses
growth. Also [20], reported that as the particle size of
feed containing crude fibre becomes smaller, better
weight gains are obtained. The chopping of the water
hyacinth to small sizes and grinding to pass through a
0.5mm screen after drying, could have aided in diges-
tion, utilization of the plant and the consequent good
weight gain.
The result of the feed conversion ratio of the
pigs agreed with [19] who observed that pigs fed 20%
CP diet had a better feed per gain ratio than the pigs on
16% CP diet. Jones et al reported that supplementation
of pig’s diets with lysine and methionine improves the
growth rate and consequently the feed to gain ratio.
Protein efficiency ratio obtained in this study is
in agreement with the report of [20]. They observed
protein efficiency ratio values of 2.0-3.0 for pigs. The
control diet had the best value of 2.24 while diet IV had
the least protein efficiency ratio (2.78). This suggests
that water hyacinth has a high biological value, since it
is a measure of the proportion of the feed protein that
can be utilized by the animal for growth.
The lack of mortality recorded amongst the
treatments groups confirms the report of [19] that water
hyacinth contains no toxic substance or anti-nutritional
factors that would have resulted in the mortality of the
pigs.
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