ISSN (Print) : 0974-6846

Indian Journal of Science and Technology, Vol 9(48), DOI: 10.17485/ijst/2016/v9i48/106120, December 2016 ISSN (Online) : 0974-5645

Linear Programming Approach for Feed Ration

Formulation of Pre-Starter Swine using Locally-
Available Feed Ingredients in the Philippines
Rhoda A. Namoco*
Department of Mathematical Sciences, College of Science and Mathematics,
University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines, Lapasan, Cagayan de Oro City, 9000, Philippines;
rhodaagdeppanamoco@gmail.com

Abstract
Objectives: In this study, alternative feed rations for backyard pre-starter swine are formulated using various combinations
of locally-available feed ingredients in the Philippines. Methods/Statistical Analysis: Feed rations are formulated using
linear programming techniques. Various combinations of feed ingredients, namely coconut residue, water spinach, sweet
potato leaves, cassava leaves, banana pseudo stem, duckweed fern, lead tree leaves, taro leaves, madre de agua leaves, water
hyacinth leaves, rice bran D1and rice bran D2, mixed with preferred commercially-available pre-starter feeds are considered
to find cheaper feed rations while ensuring that required basic nutrients for pre-starter swine are met. Findings: Results
of the numerical experiments provide cheaper feed ration formulations for pre-starter swine. Specifically, 18 least-cost
feed rations were obtained using various combinations of the 12 ingredients with the cheapest at PHP 9.20 (Ration 1) per
kilo and the most expensive at PHP 11.57 (Ration 13). When the feed rations are formulated to include 10%, 25% or 50%
of the preferred commercially-available pre-starter feed, the cheapest feed ration costs, respectively, PHP 13.93 (Ration
1), PHP 21.07 (Rations 1 and 5), and PHP 33.10 (Ration 1). Feed ration formulations obtained in all 4 cases considered in
this study were way cheaper as compared to the most preferred pre-starter feed available in the market which is sold at
PHP 42 per kilo. Based on linear programming formulations, all feed rations obtained in this study contain the required
amount of calcium, crude protein, moisture, crude fiber, phosphorus and crude fat for pre-starter swine. Application/
Improvements: Using the results of this study, backyard swine raisers can have cheaper pre-starter swine feed rations by
mixing commercially-available pre-starter feed with the appropriate locally-available feed ingredients.

Keywords: Locally-Available Feeds, Linear Programming, Pre-Starter, Philippines, Swine Feeds

however, greatly affect the health and quality of swine that

1. Introduction
Almost every rural household in the Philippines engage in
small scale swine rising. Swine rising has been considered
one of the fastest growing enterprise as it consists of large
and small scale commercial and backyard swine raisers.
In fact, as of January 01, 2016, the country’s total swine
inventory was 3.98% higher than that of 2015, totaling to
12.14 million heads1. It is known that swine rising does
not only provide raisers with another source of income
but it can also provide opportunities for high return of
investment in lesser time. Environmental conditions,
raisers produce. Moreover, swine raisers have to invest in
the feeds they give to the swine. Nutrients required guar-
anteeing for maximum growth and production of swine
includes energy, protein, vitamins and minerals2.
The provision of adequate nutrition for swine is a
major problem in the Philippines. Feed accounts for
almost 70% of the production cost. The challenge is
for swine raisers to cut cost on production by devising
means to reduce feed cost. Generally, swine raisers choose
between using commercially-available feeds and utilizing
locally-available alternative feeds. Commercial feeds are

*Author for correspondence

 Linear Programming Approach for Feed Ration Formulation of Pre-Starter Swine using Locally-Available Feed Ingredients in the
Philippines

known to be costly and thus contribute to high produc-
tion cost among swine-raisers. Hence, other swine raisers
consider feeding their swine with a combination of com-
mercial feed and locally-available feed ingredients3,4.
Swine raisers who opt to use alternative feeds need to
ensure that the required nutrients for swine is met while
achieving least possible feed cost5. Such can be achieved
through the use of linear programming techniques6.
Agdeppa-Namoco and Gican6 presented alternative feed
rations for grower stage backyard swine using feed ingre-
dients which are available in the neighborhood of the
swine raisers. Using linear programming formulations of
various combinations of the 10 feed ingredients consid-
ered in their study, suggested feed rations obtained were
found to be cheaper by about 50% of the prevailing prices
of commercially-available grower feeds available in the
local market.
In this study, alternative feed ration formulation
for pre-starter swine is explored using locally-available
feed ingredients based on6. A recent survey conducted
revealed that backyard swine raisers use two types of
rice bran, commonly referred to as D1 (cono) and D2
(kiskis), which are usually commercially-available in
the local market and sold as alternative swine feeds, as
feed ingredients. Hence, these two ingredients are con-
sidered as 2 of the possible feed ingredients in this study.
Moreover, the survey revealed that most backyard raisers
consider mixing locally-available feed ingredients with
commercial feeds to enhance proper nutrition among
pre-starter swine while reducing feed cost. Hence, this
study provides feed rations which are a mixture of varying
percentages of commercially-available pre-starter feeds
with 12 alternative feed ingredients to provide cheaper
yet nutritionally-packed pre-starter swine feeds to raisers.
The basic nutrients considered in the feed ration formu-
lations are crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, calcium,
phosphorus and moisture.
2. Materials and Methods
Table 1 shows the cost, nutrient analysis and the allow-
able inclusion values of the feed ingredients considered in
this study. These values were obtained from6,7 and through
a recently conducted survey. One US dollar (1 USD) is
approximately equal to 47 Philippine pesos (47 PHP).

Table 1. Nutrient analysis, allowable inclusion rates and approximate costs per kilo of feed ingredients. (Source:
Agdeppa-Namoco and Gican6; PHILSAN7)
Feed Ingredient Crude Crude Crude Calcium Moisture Phosphorus Maximum Cost per kilo (in
Protein Fiber (%) Fat (%) (%) (%) (%) Inclusion Philippine peso,
(%) Rate (%) PHP)
Coconut 5.1 31.9 38.3 0.6 4.8 0.6 40 19
Residue
Water spinach 28 12 3.8 1.24 5.32 0.41 12.75
Sweet potato 19.4 10.2 3.07 1.79 4.97 0.24 50 12.75
leaves
Cassava leaves 14.7 10.7 0.8 0.84 10 0.76 40 12.75
Banana pseudo 12.3 20.5 0.5 1.16 5 0.01 19
stem
Duckweed fern 24 9.1 3.3 0.4 14 0.9 8.30
Lead tree leaves 27.8 10.4 4.4 0.54 10 0.29 10 8.30
Taro leaves 7.67 20 3 2 14 0.8 80 16.65
Madre de agua 18.21 12.5 2.66 5 11.56 0.41 9.50
leaves
Water hyacinth 21.6 17.1 2.1 1.6 10.5 0.5 16.65
leaves
Rice bran D1 11 7 12 1 13 1.54 25 12.50
(cono)
Rice bran D2 8 18 4 1 13 1.54 25 10
(kiskis)

2 Vol 9 (48) | December 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
 Rhoda A. Namoco

Based on a survey, the most preferred pre-starter be included in the feed ration, is the amount of nutri-
commercial feed cost P42 and has the following published
ent that can be obtained in ingredient i when used as feed
nutrient content Table 2 as shown in its packaging.
ingredient, and are, respectively the minimum and
Table 2. Nutrient content of a preferred commercial maximum recommended percentage of nutrients j in the
pre-starter feed
ration, and is the maximum inclusion rate of each
Nutrient Amount (%) ingredient i. In this study, i is any of the 12 alternative
Crude protein 20 feed ingredients while j is any of the 6 ingredients consid-
Crude fiber 4 ered. The amount of feed ration formulated per run is one
Crude fat 4 Equation (1) kilo.
Calcium 0.85 To obtain feed ration formulations for feeds mixed
Moisture 12 with commercial feed, an additional constraint is added
to Equation (1) as follows:
Phosphorus 0.55

Table 3 shows the recommended nutrient content of

pre-starter backyard swine.
which corresponds to the amount of commercial feed
included in the feed formulation (mixed with the locally-
Table 3. Recommended nutrient intake for pre-starter
backyard swine. (Source: Philippine Society of Animal available feed ingredients), which is either 10%, 25% or
Science Feed Reference Standards 2nd ed) 50%. The resulting linear programming problem formu-
lations are then solved using Microsoft® Excel Solver.
Nutrient Recommended Percentage of Complete
Density (%) Diet for Pre-starter Pigs (8-12 kg Live
Weight)
Minimum Maximum
Crude Protein 0.16 --
Crude Fiber -- 0.15
Crude Fat 0.04 --
Calcium 0.0085 --
Moisture -- 0.10
Phosphorus 0.005 --

In order to obtain alternative feed rations, the follow-

ing linear programming problem is solved:
Figure 1. Eighteen possible feed rations obtained using
locally-available feed ingredients.

3. Results and Discussions

(1)
Figure 1 show all possible feed rations obtained when
combinations of the twelve locally-available feed ingredi-
ents are considered. Ration 1, the cheapest feed ration as
seen from the Table 4, consists of 5 ingredients, namely,
coconut residue, sweet potato leaves, duckweed fern, lead
tree and madre de agua leaves. It is worth noting that
where correspond to the cost (per kilo) of each most feed rations contain large amount of duckweed fern
ingredient i, is the amount of the feed ingredient i to while cassava leaves, banana pseudo stem, taro leaves and

Vol 9 (48) | December 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology 3
 Linear Programming Approach for Feed Ration Formulation of Pre-Starter Swine using Locally-Available Feed Ingredients in the
Philippines

water hyacinth leaves are never included as ingredient in

9.87
18 any of the feed rations. The nutrient contents of the 18
9.8 least-cost feed rations are shown in Figure 2. Based from
17

the figure, nutrient contents of the cheapest feed ration,

Ration1, are comparable to that of the most expensive
14.18
9.89
16

ration, Ration 10.

10.41 10.33

15.76
15

14.3
14
11.57

14.12
13
10.71

14.09
12
10.27

14.69

22.07
11
13.34

21.33
10

14

Figure 2. Nutrient contents of the 18 feed rations obtained

using locally-available feed ingredients.
14.19

21.16
9.25
9

Figures 3-8 show the least cost feed rations and the
corresponding nutrient contents of each feed ration when
14.16

21.33

33.31
9.59

the 12 locally-available feed ingredients are mixed with

8

10, 25 or 50 % commercial ingredients. In Figure 3, it can

13.95

21.12

33.17
9.37
Table 4. Cost per kilo (in PHP) of the different feed rations obtained

be observed that duckweed fern is common to the rations

7

1, 2, 3, 6 and 7 which are the 5 cheapest feed rations for the

13.99

23.89

feed formulation with 10% commercial feed. It can also

33.2
9.8

be observed that cheapest ration, Ration 1, only differs by

6

PHP 0.02 from Rations 2 and 7 but these 2 rations contain

14.14

21.07
9.42

33.4

higher amount of crude protein as shown in Figure 4.

5
10.29

14.08

21.26

33.11
4

13.94

21.14
9.21

33.3
3

13.95

21.13

33.19
9.35
2

13.93

21.07

33.1
9.2
1

COMMERCIAL

COMMERCIAL

COMMERCIAL
INGREDIENTS
FEED RATION

WITH 10%

WITH 25%

WITH 50%
ALL FEED

FEEDS

FEEDS

FEEDS

Figure 3. Sixteen possible feed rations obtained when locally-

available feeds are mixed with 10% commercial feeds.

4 Vol 9 (48) | December 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology
 Rhoda A. Namoco

water spinach and madre de agua leaves as ingredients.

It can be observed from Figure 8 that the cheapest and
most expensive feed rations obtained have similar nutri-
ent content except for crude protein (in which ration 5
has higher content).

Figure 4. Nutrient analysis of the 16 feed rations obtained

when locally-available feeds are mixed with 10% commercial
feeds.

When feed rations contain 25% of the preferred pre-

starter commercial feed, it can be seen from Figure 5
that the2 cheapest feed rations obtained, namely Ration
1 and 5, with cost per kilo of PHP21.07 (see Table 4)
Figure 6. Nutrient analysis of the 11 least-cost feed rations
both contain sweet potato leaves, duckweed fern and lead
obtained when locally-available feeds are mixed with 25%
tree leaves. Figure 6 shows that Ration 5 contains higher
commercial feeds.
crude protein as compared to Ration 1 while Ration 9 has
the highest amount of crude protein among the rations.
Ration 6, which is the most expensive ration among the
11 feed rations with 25% commercial feed content, has
the smallest crude protein content but has the highest
amount of crude fiber.

Figure 7. Eight possible feed rations obtained when locally-

available feeds are mixed with 50% commercial feeds.

Figure 5. Eleven possible feed rations obtained when

locally-available feeds are mixed with 25% commercial feeds.

When feed rations must include 50% of the preferred

commercial pre-starter feed, Ration 1is the cheapest feed
ration formulation at PHP 33.10 while Ration 5 is the Figure 8. Nutrient analysis of the 8 feed rations obtained
most expensive feed ration at PHP33.40. It can be seen when locally-available feeds are mixed with 50% commercial
from Figure 7 that both rations 1 and 5, however, contain feeds.

Vol 9 (48) | December 2016 | www.indjst.org Indian Journal of Science and Technology 5
 Linear Programming Approach for Feed Ration Formulation of Pre-Starter Swine using Locally-Available Feed Ingredients in the
Philippines
It can be seen from the Table 4 that the cost per kilo
of feeds have significantly increased when compared to
the feed rations which do not include any commercial
feeds. The crude protein contents of the feed rations have
also significantly increased with the addition of the com-
mercial ingredients. However, the cost per kilo of these
feed rations is way below the P42 per kilo cost of the most
preferred pre-starter commercial feed. It can be observed
that lead tree leaves and water spinach are almost present
in all possible feed rations for formulations which include
10, 25 or 50 % commercial ingredient.
4. Conclusion
This paper presented feed rations using cheap locally-
available feed ingredients which provide the required
nutrients for pre-starter swine. Moreover, feed rations are
also obtained when these cheap locally-available feeds
are combined with varying amounts of commercial pre-
starter swine. This gives pre-starter swine growers the
option to choose which feed rations to use. To enhance
the results of this study, it may be interesting to consider
other locally-available feed ingredients.
5. References
1. PSA (2016). Swine industry performance report (January
2015 to December 2015). Philippine Statistics Authority
6 Vol 9 (48) | December 2016 | www.indjst.org
(PSA), Republic of the Philippines. Available from http://
psa.gov.ph/sites/default/files/SWINE%20Industry%20
Performance%20Report%20-%20Jan%20-%20Dec%20
2015.pdf
2. Crafter S, Morton R. 2010. Keeping Your Own Pigs.
Northern Territory Government, Australia. Available from
http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Content/File/p/Anim_Man/606.
pdf
3. Huynh TTT, Aarnink AJA, Drucker A, Verstegen MWA. Pig
production in Cambodia, Laos, Philippines and Vietnam:
A review. Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development.
2006; 3(1-2):69–90.
4. PCCARD. The Philippines recommends for livestock
feed formulation. Philippine Council for Agriculture,
Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development
(PCCARD). Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines; 2000.
5. Das LK, Kundu SS, Kumar D, Datt C. Assessment of energy
content of some tropical concentrate feeds of ruminants
using model of National Research Council – 2001. Indian
Journal of Science and Technology. 2014; 7(12):1999–2006.
6. Agdeppa-Namoco RP, Gican KCP. Alternative feed rations
for grower stage backyard swine. Mindanao Journal of
Science and Technology. 2012; 10:93–106.
7. PHILSAN. PHILSAN Feed Reference Standards. 2nd
ed. Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines: Philippine Society of
Animal Nutritionists (PHILSAN).; 1996.
Indian Journal of Science and Technology