The effect of dietary kiwifruit inclusion level on the digestibility of kiwifruit fibre and dietary nutrients was studied. Ileal cannulated pigs (50±1.9 kg) were fed a fibre-free diet for seven days (n=14) followed by kiwifruit-containing diets (133 or 266 g kiwifruit/kg dry matter) (n=7) for 44 days followed by the fibre-free diet (n=14) for seven days. Faecal and ileal samples were collected on days 5, 11, 21, 35, 49 and 56. The soluble kiwifruit fibre was highly digested in the foregut (80%), and the insoluble fibre in the hindgut (95%). Increasing the kiwifruit inclusion level decreased the apparent ileal and faecal digestibilities of several nutrients (P<0.05), including the faecal digestibility of insoluble kiwifruit fibre and led to higher ileal and faecal concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (P<0.05). The decreased digestibility was explained by the lower digestibility of kiwifruit itself. The duration of kiwifruit consumption per se did not affect dietary nutrient digestibility (P>0.05).
Keywords: Green kiwifruit fibre; Growing pig; Ileal and faecal digestibility; Short-chain fatty acids.
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