Silage From Intercropping Of Maize With Common Beans (Phaseolus Vulgaris) As Roughage For Fattening Pigs

Summary

Maize silage is a high-energy roughage that can be fed to fattening pigs to provide both employment and additional nutrients. Intercropping of maize with common beans was tested to produce a roughage higher in protein, but was still found to contain considerably less protein than grass-clover silage, which is frequently fed to pigs. In a fattening trial with 144 pigs, maize-bean silage was compared to grass-clover as roughage. Although silage consumption in early fattening was lower when maize-bean silage was fed, neither fattening nor slaughter performance differed. So maize-bean silage as roughage was equally efficient as grass-clover silage, but did not show nutritional benefits.