This
resulted in greater capacity of sows to digest fibrous components compared to young pigs
[27] and it was shown that sows digest a larger part of the NSP in the small intestine than
growing pigs [28]. They also showed that sows have a higher capacity to digest insoluble
NSP, whereas the difference in digestibility of soluble NSP between growing pigs and sows
were only marginal. It was suggested that because of the increased capacity to digest fibrous
feedstuff by increased age and body weight, at least two different energy values, one for
growing-finishing pigs and one for sows should be used for most feed ingredients in pig diets