ALGUNAS CARACTERISTICAS DIGESTIVAS DE CERDOS CUINOS MEXICANOS

A total of 12 Mexican cuino pigs, six females and six castrated males averaging aproximately 60 kg live weight were used to study some digestive characteristics. The animals were from the University herd, and had its origin in Nayaritean municipalities where they are reared within the family agriculture scheme. The pigs were sampled after being fed ad libitum during growing and fattening stages, four months, with a conventional diet of maize and soybean meal (crude protein, Nx6.25, 14.24% in dry basis). Rectal digestibility of dry matter and organic matter were not significantly (P>0.05) influenced by sex, but in the case of N, digestibility was better (P 0.05) effect in the relative contribution of empty digestive individual organs with respect to the weight of the weight or length of the entire empty digestive tract. A trend was found (P<0.10) of the relative weight of the entire empty digestive tract to be heavier in castrated males than females (34.2 and 32.9 g/kg live weight, respectively). The empty large intestine contribution to the weight of the entire tract was very high in both sexes, 48.7 and 50.8% respectively, for castrated males and females. Rectal digestibility of dry matter was positively correlated to the relative weight of the empty large intestine (r, 0.596; P<0.05). These data do suggest, in conclusion, that sex does not appear to be an influencing factor en digestive processes in Mexican cuino pigs, and that in contrast, the large intestine influence on these processes could be noteworthy, possibly through an anatomical adaptation to residence of bulky feeds such as those with a high fibre content.