Evaluation of potato hash silage from two bacterial inoculants and their effects on the growth performance of grower pigs

Potato hash was mixed with wheat bran at 7:3 ratio, treated with homofermentative LAB inoculant (BMF, bonsilage forte), heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria (LAB) (LFLB, Lalsil Fresh LB) and without LAB inoculant and ensiled in 210 L drums for 90 days. After 90 days of ensiling, concentrates that contained 40% potato hash silage (PHS) were formulated and the treatment groups were control (no silage), untreated PHS, BMF treated PHS and LFLB treated PHS. The diets were fed to 64 growing pigs (60 days old and 30.4 ± 2.3 kg body mass). The pigs were allocated in a complete randomized block design with four treatments, and each treatment consisted of eight boars and eight sows. Pigs were fed ad libitum, feed intake was measured daily while body masses were recorded at the start and weekly throughout the experimental period. The dry matter intake (DMI) was higher in the control diet (1062 g/kg) than in the untreated PHS diets (933 g/kg), BMF treated PHS (873 g/kg) and LFLB treated PHS (919 g/kg) diets, respectively. Pigs in the control group had higher final body weight (60.77 kg), average daily gain (ADG) (551 g/d) and better feed conversion rate (FCR) (4.92 g/g) at the end of the trial compared to those in other treatment groups. It can be concluded that potato hash silage produced with or without LAB inoculants had the same effect on the growth performance of growing pigs. However, further work is needed to evaluate the effects of higher dietary inclusion levels (>40 %) of ensiled potato hash on pig growth and reproductive performance.