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Breeding and feeding pigs in Australia and Vietnam
Project ID
AS2/1994/023
Project Country
Commissioned Organisation
Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Animal Research Institute, Australia
Project Leader
Dr Cam McPhee
cam.mcphee@dpi.qld.gov.au
Phone:
07 3362 9417
Fax:
07 3362 9429
Project Budget
$1,457,389.00
Start Date
01/07/1995
Finish Date
30/06/1998
Extension Start Date
30/06/1998
Extension Finish Date
31/08/2001
ACIAR Research Program Manager
Dr Bill Winter
Overview Objectives
This project aimed to utilise the group's expertise in pig genetics and nutrition to develop means to improve the productivity of the pig-meat industries in Vietnam and Australia. Collaborative research in the two countries investigated genetic ways to overcome the limits to efficient growth of lean pork through factors that reduce the efficiency of food utilisation through high-fat deposition and poor appetite. They examined the chemical and nutritional properties of alternative feed ingredients with the aim of formulating cheaper, yet optimum, diets for the pigs.
Project Background and Objectives
Vietnam has about 14 million pigs with most kept in small holdings of 10 to 20 animals. Few farms have more than 500 pigs, but this sector was marked for growth with rising demand for lean carcasses through more efficient production.
However, expansion of lean pork production was limited. Native breeds are slow growing, small and fat, and were therefore unsuitable for commercial pig-meat enterprises. Breeds and strains introduced from Europe have adapted poorly to the local environment, and the nutrient-dense cereal-based feeds they require are not economic.
Producers in warmer areas of Australia, with environmental challenges similar to those encountered in Vietnam, had found that lean pig strains from Europe experienced heat stress that reduces appetite and growth rates and sometimes causes death. The Queensland Department of Primary Industries (QDPI) has worked for many years to overcome these problems, and its research has attracted interest in Southeast Asia.
Project Outcomes
Some of the best boars selected from the crosses between the Australian and Vietnamese types are now used for mating on local farms and the semen of others is being made available through Artificial Insemination Centres, for the benefit of smallholder farmers. Thus the project started contributing very quickly to the genetic improvement of Vietnam's pig population.
A survey of pig feeds from local ingredients revealed that many byproducts of human food could be rendered suitable for feed with the application of minimal treatment. Trials looked for the true nutritive value of the feeds by determining how efficiently pigs utilised the various protein components provided in their feed. Low-cost feeds from local ingredients were formulated.
Poor farmers have benefited financially through the development of the low-cost diet, representing a saving of 2-5% compared with traditional diets. Price increases on the sale of their pigs (produced from the improved breeding stock) of approximately 3000 - 5000 dong ($0.40 - 0.66) per kg (market-age pigs weigh 90-100kg). Approximately 70,000 offspring (piglets) of the imported Australian pigs are estimated to have been produced by smallholder farmers in one province alone - representing an increase from 1 to 2.5 per litter more than from local boars
Emerging issues included the need for more training in experimental design, record keeping, data management and analysis. There was also a call for both Australian and Vietnamese scientists to move away from an intensively analytical approach and adopt more practical measures in designing pig feed supplements (particularly amino acid levels in diets) and in determining potential sources of pig feed.
An economic assessment of the potential impact indicates benefits of 150:1. Much of this achievement is due to Prof Hai, the Director of the Centre, who has maintained his focus on the delivery of benefits, while the Australians and a number of his Vietnamese colleagues have been more interested in the science and training. The second benefit is the development of skills in the Vietnam team-including one exceptional John Allwright Fellow, Nguyen Van Nguyen.
Location
There are no project locations defined for this project.
