Standardized total tract digestibility of phosphorus in camelina (Camelina sativa) meal fed to growing pigs without or phytase supplementation

• Phosphorus digestibility (both apparent and standardized) in a new ingredient, camelina meal was determined.
• Addition of phytase at 500 FTU increased both apparent and standardized total tract digestibility of P in camelina meal.
• Addition of phytase decreases fecal phosphorus output.

An experiment was conducted to determine the coefficient of apparent (CATTD) and standardized total tract digestibility (CSTTD) of phosphorus (P) in camelina meal (CM) and the effect of phytase on both CATTD and CSTTD of CM fed to growing pigs. Eighteen barrows [(Yorkshire − Landrace) × Duroc] with an average initial body weight of 18.1 ± 0.7 were individually housed in metabolism crates, which allowed for total but separate collection of feces and urine. Pigs were allotted to one of three experimental diets consisting of a diet containing 200 g/kg CM that was fed without or with phytase at 500 FTU/kg and a corn-starch-gelatin based P-free diet in a completely randomised design to give 6 replicates per diet. Pigs were fed their respective diets in 2 equal portions at 0830 and 1630 h. Daily feed allowance was based on the body weight at the beginning of the experiment and was calculated to supply 2.6 times the estimated maintenance energy requirements. The experiment lasted for 14 days and pigs were adapted to their respective diets for initial 9 days followed by 5 days of total collection of feces and urine. The CATTD and CSTTD of P in CM with phytase supplementation were estimated to be 0.68 and 0.69, respectively, which were higher than for CM without phytase supplementation (0.55 and 0.56, respectively). The EPL was calculated as 0.108 g/kg DMI. Pigs fed the diet with phytase had greater (P = 0.039) P retention (0.73) than those fed without phytase (0.53) and also had lesser (P = 0.04) P output in the feces. In conclusion, the CSTTD of P for CM without and with phytase were 0.53 and 0.66 and phytase supplementation enhance P utilization from camelina meal fed to growing pigs.