Nutrient utilisation in response to dietary supplementation of chicory inulin in growing pigs

The digestive and post-absorptive utilisation of dietary crude protein (CP), calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) in response to dietary supplementation of chicory inulin extract was investigated with six Yorkshire barrows with an average initial body weight of 30 kg. The barrows were fed a corn (maize) and soybean meal-based diet containing 0 or 50 g kg^-1 chicory inulin extract according to a two-period crossover design. The digestive utilisation of CP, Ca and P did not differ (P > 0.05) between the control and the inulin-fed pigs. Furthermore, the post-absorptive urinary loss of CP and Ca was not affected (P > 0.05) by 50 g kg^-1 chicory inulin supplementation. However, inulin supplementation improved post-absorptive P utilisation through a reduction (P = 0.01) in urinary P loss by 1.6 percentage units compared with the control group. In conclusion, dietary supplementation of 50 g kg^-1 chicory inulin does not affect dietary CP and Ca utilisation but does reduce urinary P loss in growing pigs.