| The increase in the number of ethanol plants has increased availability of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS). New plants have improved processing techniques which make DDGS more attractive to use in swine diets. Two experiments were conducted to determine the energy value of DDGS. In Exp.1, 360 pigs (initially 17.5 kg) were used in a 22 d growth assay. Treatments consisted of five corn-soybean meal-based diets with added wheat bran or soy oil to provide different energy densities ranging from 3,064 to 3,536 kcal/kg ME. We used the response to the wide range of energy densities to calculate an energy value for two sources of DDGS. Because of the linear response to increasing energy in our five basal diets, by comparing G:F of pigs fed the diets containing DDGS, we estimated the ME of 3,496 and 3,128 kcal ME/kg for the new and old source DDGS, respectively. In Exp. 2, eight barrows (initially 42.2 kg) were used in a Latin square design to determine the ME of the two DDGS sources used in Exp.1. Diets were made up of 96% DDGS supplemented with crystalline amino acids, vitamins, and minerals to meet or exceed the pigs nutrient requirements. The estimated digestible energy (DE) (3,871 vs. 3,728; P < 0.02) and ME values (3,697 vs. 3,587; P < 0.05) were greater than calculated in our growth trial. Six studies were conducted to evaluate the effects of the inclusion of dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) on feed intake on growing pigs. Feed intake was lower P < 0.05 compared to corn soybean meal diets in every study regardless of source, level, drying method, or flavor added. These studies illustrates, pigs prefer corn-soybean diets to diets containing DDGS. The unpalatability appears to increase with increasing levels of dried distiller grains. Regardless of DDGS source, feed intake is decreased when DDGS is included in the diets and the addition of feed flavors does not increase palatability. While it appears that the ME content of DDGS appears to be higher than NRC values, palatability problems may affect pig performance even when included at low levels in the diet. |
