Pigtrop - the information center about pig production and pork meat commodity chains in developing countries

Feeding Tables, such as those published by INRA and Association Française de Zootechnie (AFZ) in 2002, propose average chemical characteristics and associated average nutritional values for the main ingredients used in compound feeds for farm animals. But, in practical conditions, available feedstuffs have chemical characteristics different from these average values and therefore nutritional values that are also different from the values given in Feeding Tables.

The EvaPig® software, created and developed by INRA (UMR SENAH, Rennes, France), AFZ and AJINOMOTO EUROLYSINE S.A.S. , is a calculator of energy, digestible amino acid and digestible phosphorus values of ingredients and compound feeds for pigs according to their actual chemical composition. It includes the chemical composition and nutritive values for the pig of about 100 reference ingredients, mostly derived from the INRA-AFZ Tables published in 2002 and 2004. It allows the creation and the characterization of new ingredients, either by copying and modifying the reference ingredients, or by using only the chemical characteristics of the ingredient. EvaPig® can also create and characterize complete diets either by mixing ingredients or by providing the chemical composition of the diet. It offers possibilities for including the effects of phytase on available phosphorus content or the impact of technology on energy value. Most up to date concepts (net energy, etc.) have been used.