Table 4. Effect of dietary supplementation on growth performance and carcass characteristics (least-square means and SEM).
Performance | Control | Chitosan | SEM | P value |
---|---|---|---|---|
Dietary intake (kg/d) | 2.99 | 2.67 | 0.05 | 0.001 |
Body weight gain (kg/d) | 0.88 | 0.79 | 0.03 | 0.042 |
Feed efficiency ratio (kg/kg) †† | 3.57 | 3.30 | 0.37 | 0.593 |
Carcass characteristics | ||||
Carcass weight (kg) | 93.8 | 90.1 | 1.52 | 0.092 |
Kill-out proportion (%) | 74.7 | 75.5 | 0.38 | 0.151 |
Back-fat depth (mm) | 12.8 | 11.4 | 0.37 | 0.011 |
Fat content (kg) | 36.4 | 33.6 | 0.74 | 0.012 |
Lean meat (%) | 58.2 | 59.7 | 0.38 | 0.008 |
Loin eye muscle depth (mm) | 55.3 | 57.5 | 1.39 | 0.258 |
SEM, standard error of mean.
†† Body weight gain/ dietary intake.