Extruded feed with the addition of mushroom growing waste in pig feeding

A promising direction for expanding the feed base for farm animals is the use of non-traditional feed sources. Therefore, there is a need to develop and test environmentally safe and cost-effective new feed additives consisting of plant waste, which will enhance the resistance and productivity of farm animals. The use of feed additives and industrial waste is becoming increasingly important. The purpose of our research was to study extruded feed with the addition of mushroom waste and its impact on the overall health and productivity of young pigs. The raw materials used in the production of extruded feed included oat grain, barley, wheat bran with a small amount of rapeseed, and mushroom stems, ground and dried using infrared radiation. Piglets in the control group received 0.3 kg of extruded grain in their diet, while in the experimental groups, the grain base was replaced with an extrudate containing varying ratios of grain and mushroom flour. Including extrudate supplemented with mushroom waste in a 1:1 ratio at a rate of 300 g/head/day in pig diets had no negative influence on their overall well-being. It has been found when evaluating the economic effectiveness of the study that extrudate supplemented with mushroom waste not only increased piglet growth by 10.2 % compared to the control group but also reduced feed costs per kg of gain by 9.3 %.