Vanness, S. J.; Bremer, V. R.; Klopfenstein, T. J.; Kononoff, P. J.; and Erickson, G. E., "Nutrient variability for distillers grains plus solubles and dry matter determination of ethanol by-products" (2011

No abstract

A total of 300 pigs (DNA 400 × 200, Columbus, NE), initially 11.1 kg, were used in a study to evaluate the effects of increasing amounts of high-protein distillers dried grains (HP DDG) on growth performance and to estimate its energy value relative to corn. Pigs were weaned, placed in pens with 5 pigs each, and fed a common diet for 21 d after weaning. Then, pens were assigned to treatments in a randomized complete block design. There were 5 treatments with 12 replicates per treatment. Treatments consisted of 0, 10, 20, 30, or 40% HP DDG, formulated by changing only the amounts of corn and feed-grade amino acids. Pigs were weighed weekly for 21 d to evaluate average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and gain-to-feed ratio (G:F). Caloric efficiency was obtained by multiplying ADFI by kcal of net energy (NE) per kg of diet and dividing by ADG. The NE values for corn and soybean meal were obtained from NRC (2012), and initial estimates for HP DDG NE were derived from the Noblet et al. (1994) equation. The energy of HP DDG was estimated based on caloric efficiency relative to the diet without HP DDG. Pigs fed diets with increasing HP DDG had a linear decrease (P < 0.01) in ADG, ADFI, and final body weight. There was a tendency for a quadratic response (P = 0.051) in G:F, with the greatest G:F observed for pigs fed diets with 40% HP DDG. There was a linear reduction (P < 0.05) in caloric efficiency with increasing amounts of HP DDG, indicating the initial NE estimate of HP DDG was underestimated. The use of caloric efficiency to estimate the energy value of HP DDG presents several limitations. This approach assumes that the NE values of corn and soybean meal are accurate and does not take into account possible changes in body composition, which can influence the G:F response as leaner pigs are more efficient. In conclusion, increasing HP DDG in the diet linearly decreased ADG and ADFI. Using caloric efficiency to estimate energy content relative to corn, the HP DDG used in this study was estimated to be 97.3% of the energy value of corn. Direct or indirect calorimetry is needed to confirm this value.

A total of 1,890 growing-finishing pigs (PIC; 359 × 1050; initially 27.1 kg) were used in a 124-d growth trial to compare the effects of high-protein distillers dried grains [HPDDG; 39% crude protein (CP)] or conventional distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS; 29% CP) on growth performance and carcass characteristics. Treatments were arranged in a 2×2 + 1 factorial with main effects of distillers dried grains source (conventional DDGS or HPDDG) and level (15 or 30%). A corn-soybean meal-based diet served as the control and allowed linear and quadratic level effects to be determined within each distillers dried grains (DDG) source. All diets were formulated on an equal standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys-basis with diets containing HPDDG having less soybean meal than diets with conventional DDGS. Pens were assigned to treatments in a randomized complete block design with initial weight as the blocking factor. There were 27 pigs per pen and 14 pens per treatment. Overall, increasing conventional DDGS decreased (linear, P < 0.04) final body weight (BW), whereas increasing HPDDG tended to decrease (linear, P = 0.065) final BW. The decreased final BW was a result of decreased (linear, P < 0.01) ADG in the grower phase of the study as either DDG source increased. However, there were no differences observed in the finisher phase or overall ADG between pigs fed either DDG source or either inclusion level. Pigs fed HPDDG had decreased (P < 0.001) ADFI and increased (P < 0.001) G:F compared with those fed conventional DDGS. For carcass traits, increasing either conventional DDGS or HPDDG decreased carcass yield and HCW (linear, P < 0.02); however, there were no differences between pigs fed HPDDG or conventional DDGS. Iodine value (IV) increased (linear, P < 0.02) with increasing DDG and was greater (P < 0.001) in pigs fed HPDDG than conventional DDGS. In summary, pigs fed HPDDG had no evidence of difference in overall ADG compared to pigs fed conventional DDGS, but had greater overall G:F. Carcass fat IV was also greater in pigs fed HPDDG compared with pigs fed conventional DDGS. These differences were probably due to the difference in oil content.

Dry corn milling biorefineries have the opportunity to install technology to fractionate corn prior to fermentation which creates a product stream of fibrous bran that can be fed to cattle. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of replacing dietary corn with corn bran and condensed distillers solubles (CBCDS) or wet corn gluten feed (WCGF) on growth performance, efficiency of dietary net energy (NE) utilization, and carcass characteristics in finishing steers. British × Continental steers (n = 240; initial BW = 401 kg ± 43.2 kg) were assigned to the following dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design (RCBD): 1) a Control finishing diet with no corn milling co-products 2) a finishing diet that contained CBCDS at 20% replacement of dietary corn 3) a finishing diet that contained WCGF at 20% replacement of dietary corn. Dietary corn (50:50 of dry rolled corn and high moisture corn) was included at 81.5% for control diet fed steers and 61.5% for steers fed CBCDS and WCGF. Steers were fed for 145.5 d until visually appraised to have 1.27 cm of rib fat (RF) and harvest at a commercial abattoir where carcass data was collected. Data was analyzed as an RCBD with pen as the experimental unit, treatment as a fixed effect and block as a random effect. There were no significant differences (P ≥ 0.28) between treatments for final body weight (BW), average daily gain, dry matter intake, feed conversion efficiency, observed dietary NE for maintenance (NEm) and NE for gain (NEg), or observed-to-expected NEm and NEg. Additionally, no differences (P ≥ 0.16) were noted between treatments for hot carcass weight, ribeye area, RF, marbling score, kidney-pelvic-heart fat, estimated empty body fat (EBF), BW at 28% EBF (AFBW), and distribution of USDA Quality and Yield grades. Control steers tended (P = 0.10) to have the highest calculated yield grade (YG) followed by WCGF and CBCDS. Furthermore, WCGF steers tended (P = 0.08) to have the highest calculated retail yield (RY) followed by CBCDS and Control steers. Replacement NEm and NEg values of corn co-products were determined to be 2.14 and 1.42 for CBCDS and 2.09 and 1.37 for WCGF respectively. Thus, CBCDS can be included in finishing steer diets at 20% replacement of corn without detriment to growth performance or carcass characteristics.