Effects of xylanase and antibiotic addition on ileal and faecal apparent digestibilities of dietary nutrients and evaluating HCl-insoluble ash as a dietary marker in growing pigs

The effects of xylanase and antibiotic addition to the diet, and the use of HCl-insoluble ash as a marker, on ileal and faecal apparent digestibilities of nutrients were studied with 12 growing pigs fitted with post-valvular T-caecum cannulae (PVTC). The results showed that the apparent ileal digestibility of non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) was high, (over 0·30). Xylanase, or antibiotics (Avoparcin) or xylanase plus antibiotics supplementation of the wheat middling-based diets did not significantly ( P > 0·05) increase the ileal and faecal apparent digestibilities of NSP, neutral-detergent fibre (NDF), dry matter, crude protein, energy or amino acids. There were no significant ( P > 0·05) differences between the HCl-insoluble ash and Cr 2 O 3 recoveries at the ileal or at the faecal levels: proportionately, 0·864 and 0·911 for the ileal and faecal recoveries of HCl-insoluble ash, and 0·857 and 0. 915 for the ileal and faecal recoveries of Cr 2 O 3 , respectively.