Use of DDGS in Swine Diets

Use of DDGS in Swine Diets

User Handbook

U s e o f D D G S i n

S w i n e D i e t s

U s e o f D D G S i n

S w i n e D i e t s

Use of U.S DDGS in Swine Diets Historical Use of DDGS in Swine Diets

Historically, limited amounts (less than 3% of total production) of distiller’s co-products were used in swine diets until about the year 2000 During the past 60 years, research has been

conducted to evaluate three types of distiller’s co-products in swine diets – distiller’s dried solubles (DDS), distiller’s dried grains (DDG) and distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS)

In the 1940’s and 1950’s, most of the research on feeding distiller’s co-products to swine focused

on evaluating DDS Performance trials were conducted to measure growth rate and feed

conversion of pigs when DDS was added to starter (Krider et al., 1944; Catron et al., 1954) and grower-finisher diets (Fairbanks et al., 1944; Beeson et al, 1959) Several studies were also conducted to determine if DDS could replace common protein (Fairbanks et al., 1945; Hanson, 1948; Winford et al., 1951) and vitamin (Krider and Terrill, 1949) supplements in corn-based diets during various phases of production

Beginning in the late 1950’s, researchers continued to evaluate growth performance of pigs fed distiller’s co-products (Livingstone and Livingston, 1966; Combs and Wallace, 1969; and

Combs and Wallace, 1970), but interest in identifying “unidentified growth factor(s)” in

distiller’s co-products and their effects on swine growth performance became a research focus (Beeson et al., 1959; Couch et al., 1960; Conrad, 1961; Wallace and Combs, 1968)

In the 1970’s and 1980’s, construction of large scale ethanol plants occurred and researchers began to focus on evaluating DDGS A series of titration experiments were conducted to

determine maximal inclusion rates of DDGS that could be added to starter (Wahlstrom and Libal, 1980; Orr et al., 1981; Cromwell et al., 1985) and grower-finisher diets (Wahlstrom et al., 1970; Smelski and Stothers, 1972; Cromwell et al., 1983) Additional studies focused on amino acid content of DDGS and the effect of lysine supplementation on performance of pigs fed diets containing DDGS (Wahlstrom and Libal, 1980; Cromwell et al 1983; Cromwell and Stahly, 1986)

From 1986 until 1998, very little research was conducted to evaluate the use of distiller’s co-products in swine feeds, even though several new dry-grind fuel ethanol plants were being built These relatively new,dry-mill ethanol plants use state-of-the-art engineering designs,

fermentation technologies and drying processes compared to older plants that were built and operating decades before Consequently, the nutrient content and digestibility of DDGS

produced by these modern ethanol plants are higher than published in National Research Council (NRC) in 1998

Nutritional Value of DDGS for Swine

High quality DDGS has a digestible and metabolizable energy value equal to or greater than corn Spiehs et al (1999) was the first to report that the digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) values were similar to energy values for corn (3.49 Mcal/kg and 3.37 Mcal/kg, respectively) Fu et al (2004) reported that the ME and net energy (NE) values for DDGS were 3.25 Mcal/kg and 2.61 Mcal/kg, respectively, whereas Hastad et al (2004) reported much higher values for DE, ME and NE (3.87 Mcal/kg, 3.60 Mcal/kg, and 2.61 Mcal/kg, respectively) Stein

et al (2006) confirmed that the DE and ME value of DDGS for swine is equal to, or greater than corn (3,639 kcal DE/kg and 3,378 kcal ME/kg)

Like the low protein quality (low lysine and poor amino acid balance) of corn, DDGS is also low in lysine relative to its crude protein content Threonine is the second limiting amino acid after lysine, and should be monitored during diet formulation when using more than 10% DDGS

in swine diets Amino acid digestibility can also vary among DDGS sources Stein et al (2006) showed that the range in true lysine digestibility coefficients for swine ranges from 43.9-63.0% Fastinger and Mahan (2006) reported a similar range in standardized ileal lysine digestibility values (38.2-61.5%) when five sources of DDGS were evaluated Lightness and yellowness of color of DDGS appear to be reasonable predictors of digestible lysine content among DDGS sources for swine (Pederson et al., 2005) In order to ensure excellent pig performance when adding DDGS to swine diets, only light colored sources should be used and diets should be formulated on a digestible amino acid basis if more than 10% DDGS is included in the diet DDGS is an excellent source of available phosphorus for swine Whitney et al (2001) showed that relative phosphorus availability in DDGS was 90%, using dicalcium phosphate as the

inorganic phosphorus reference source

Use of DDGS in starter diets

Whitney and Shurson (2004) conducted two experiments to determine the effects of increasing dietary levels (0-25%) of DDGS on growth performance of early-weaned pigs A total of 96 crossbred pigs (BW = 6.18 ± 0.14 kg) were blocked by gender and ancestry, and pigs within each block were randomly assigned to one of six dietary treatments (4 pigs/pen, 4 pens/treatment) in each of two growth performance experiments Dietary treatments consisted of providing 0, 5, 10,

15, 20, or 25% DDGS during Phases 2 and 3 of a 3-phase nursery feeding program Pigs in Experiment 1 were slightly older (19.0 vs 16.9 days of age) and heavier (7.10 vs 5.26 kg) at the beginning of the experiment compared to pigs in Experiment 2 All pigs were provided a

commercial pelleted diet for the first 4 days post-weaning, and were then switched to their

respective experimental Phase 2 diets (fed for a subsequent 14 days), followed by Phase 3

experimental diets (fed for an additional 21 days) Experimental diets were formulated to contain equivalent apparent ileal digestible lysine (1.35 and 1.15%) and methionine + cystine (0.80 and 0.65%), ME (3340 and 3390 kcal/kg), calcium (0.95 and 0.80%) and total phosphorus (0.80 and 0.70%) within Phases 2 and 3, respectively

Overall growth rate, ending body weight, and feed conversion of pigs were similar among dietary treatments regardless of dietary DDGS level fed for both experiments In Experiment 1, feed intake was unaffected by dietary treatment In Experiment 2, however, increasing dietary DDGS level linearly decreased feed intake during Phase 2, and tended to decrease voluntary feed intake over the length of the experiment These results suggest that high quality DDGS can be included in Phase 3 diets for nursery pigs at dietary levels up to 25%, without negatively

affecting growth performance after a two-week acclimation period Satisfactory growth

performance can also be achieved when adding up to 25% DDGS in Phase 2 diets for pigs

weighing at least 7 kg in body weight Including these high levels immediately post-weaning, however, may negatively influence feed intake, resulting in poorer initial growth performance

More recently, Gaines et al (2006) conducted two trials to evaluate the effect of dietary levels

of DDGS and choice white grease on growth performance in the late nursery phase of growth (more than 11 kg BW) The first trial was conducted to evaluate dietary DDGS inclusion rates of

0, 15 and 30% without supplemental fat The second trial used the same dietary levels of DDGS

as in the first trial, but also evaluated the effect of adding 0 or 15% choice white grease to the diet on growth performance There was no effect of dietary DDGS inclusion level or fat source

on average daily gain In the second trial, both feeding diets containing DDGS and the addition

of 5% choice white grease improved the gain:feed ratio, which was attributed to lower feed

intake

Use of DDGS in Grower-Finisher Diets

Whitney et al (2006c) conducted a study to determine the effects of feeding diets containing 0,

10, 20 or 30% DDGS on growth performance and carcass characteristics of grower-finisher pigs They used a total of 240 crossbred pigs with an initial body weight of about 28.6 kg, and

assigned them to one of four diet sequences in a five-phase grower-finisher feeding program Corn-soybean meal diets were formulated on total lysine basis, and also contained up to 4%

soybean oil as a supplemental fat source Soybean oil was chosen as the supplemental fat source for this study because we did not have the ability to use animal fats at the location where this

study was conducted Therefore, these experimental diets contained unusually high levels of

unsaturated fatty acids compared what is currently being fed to grower-finisher pigs in the U.S pork industry

As shown in Table 1, pigs fed the diets containing 10% DDGS grew at the same rate,

consumed the same amount of feed and had the same feed conversion as pigs fed the control

corn-soybean meal diets Feeding diets containing 20% DDGS resulted in reduced growth rate but feed conversion was not significantly affected However, feeding diets containing 30%

DDGS reduced growth rate and feed conversion compared to pigs fed the corn-soybean meal control diets or the diets containing 10% DDGS This reduction in performance at higher DDGS inclusion rates was likely due to formulating diets on a total amino acid basis and not accounting for the digestibility of amino acids in DDGS, which likely resulted in not meeting the pigs amino acid requirements at the 20 and 30% dietary inclusion rates for DDGS

Table 1: Effect of Dietary DDGS Level on Overall Growth

Performance of Grower-Finisher Pigs

0% DDGS 10% DDGS 20% DDGS 30% DDGS Average Daily Gain

(ADG), kg

Average Daily Feed

Intake (ADFI), kg

2.38 2.37 2.31 2.35

Feed/Gain (F/G) 2.76a 2.76a 2.80a 2.92b

Final Wt., kg 117a 117a 114b 112b

a, b

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 05)

c, d

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 10)

At the end of the feeding portion of this study, pigs were slaughtered to obtain carcass (Table 2), muscle (Table 3) and fat (Table 4) quality measurements Carcass weight and dressing

percentage of pigs fed the 0 and 10% DDGS diets were the same and greater than those from pigs fed the 20 and 30% DDGS diets The lighter carcass weights of pigs fed the 20% and 30% DDGS diets were a result of reduced growth rate and lighter live weights compared to pigs fed the control (0%) and 10% DDGS diets However, there was no difference in backfat thickness or

percentage of carcass lean among the different DDGS feeding levels Pigs fed the 0% DDGS

diets had greater loin depths compared to pigs fed the 30% DDGS diets, with intermediate loin depths from pigs fed either 10 or 20% DDGS The differences in loin depth were influenced by the differences in slaughter weight of pigs among the four dietary treatments These results

indicate that, although growth performance was negatively affected by feeding diets containing

20 or 30% DDGS, carcass composition was largely unaffected as indicated by the similar fat

depths and percent carcass lean across dietary treatments.

Furthermore, none of the muscle quality measurements except 11-day purge loss were affected

by dietary DDGS level (Table 3) It is unclear why muscle from pigs fed the 20% DDGS had a higher 11-day purge loss compared to muscle from pigs fed the control diet, but 11-day purge loss was not different between the 0, 10 and 30% DDGS treatments These data indicate adding DDGS at levels up to 30% in swine finishing diets did not have meaningful effects on pork

muscle quality

Iodine number increased linearly, and thus, belly fat became more unsaturated, as the dietary concentration of DDGS increased (Table 4) Researchers have clearly established that feeding diets containing an unsaturated fat source can alter the degree of saturation in pork fat Lea et al (1970) indicated that adequately firm pork fat has an iodine number below 70 Boyd (1997)

suggested that the iodine value threshold for pork fat in the United States should be set at 74 In our study, iodine values were greater than 70, but less than 74, for the diets containing 30%

DDGS and about 70 for the pigs fed the 20% DDGS diets A significant amount of unsaturated fatty acids was supplied to experimental diets from supplemental soybean oil in addition to the corn oil present in DDGS in this study We estimate, based on NRC (1998), that a typical swine finishing diet without supplemental fat (85% corn, 11% soybean meal) would contain about 3% unsaturated fatty acids By comparison, we estimated our phase 5 control diet contained 4.33% unsaturated fatty acids and the Phase 5 diet with 30% DDGS contained 4.96% unsaturated fatty acids We expect that if an animal fat source, which is lower in unsaturated fatty acid

concentration, were added to these diets, or if no supplemental fat was added, the iodine values

of carcass fat from pigs fed high concentrations of DDGS would be lower and the negative

effects of adding high levels of DDGS to the diets on pork fat quality would be less The effect

of DDGS feeding on iodine number was reflected in the analysis of belly firmness score Lower belly firmness scores indicated that bellies from pigs that were fed 30% DDGS were softer than bellies from pigs fed 0 or 20% DDGS Softer bellies were most likely a consequence of elevated concentrations of dietary unsaturated lipids supplied by soybean oil and DDGS

Table 2: Effects of Dietary DDGS Level on Carcass Characteristics of Grower-Finisher Pigs

0% DDGS 10% DDGS 20% DDGS 30% DDGS Slaughter weight, kg 117 119 113 112

Carcass weight, lbs 85.7c 86.6c 81.6d 80.7d

Dressing % 73.4c 72.8c 72.1d 71.9d

Fat depth, mm 21.3 21.8 21.1 20.6

Loin depth, mm 56.5ac 53.9b 54.8c 51.6d

% Carcass lean 52.6 52.0 52.6 52.5

a, b

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 05)

c, d

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 10)

Table 3: Muscle Quality Characteristics from Grower-Finisher Pigs Fed Diets Containing 0, 10, 20, and 30% DDGS

Firmness score e 2.2 2.0 2.1 2.1

Marbling score f 1.9 1.9 1.7 1.9

11-d purge loss, % 2.1a 2.4 2.8b 2.5

24-hr drip loss, % 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.7

Cooking loss, % 18.7 18.5 18.3 18.8

Total moisture loss, % g 21.4 21.5 21.8 22.1

Warner-Bratzler sheer force, kg h 3.4 3.4 3.3 3.3

a, b

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 05)

c

0 = black, 100 = white

d

1 = pale pinkish gray/white; 2 = grayish pink; 3 = reddish pink; 4 = dark reddish pink; 5 = purplish

red; 6 = dark purplish red

e

1 = soft, 2 = firm, 3 = very firm

f

Visual scale approximates % intramuscular fat content (NPPC, 1999)

g

Total moisture loss = 11-d purge loss + 24-h drip loss + cooking loss

h

Measure of tenderness

Table 4: Fat Quality Characteristics of Market Hogs Fed Corn-Soybean Meal Diets Containing 0, 10, 20 and 30% DDGS

0%

DDGS

10%

DDGS

20%

DDGS

30%

DDGS Belly thickness, cm 3.15a 3.00ab 2.84bc 2.71c

Belly firmness score, degrees 27.3a 24.4a 25.1a 21.3b

Adjusted belly firmness score,

degrees

Iodine number 66.8d 68.6e 70.6f 72.0f

a, b, c

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 10)

d, e, f

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 05)

Based upon these results, including 10% DDGS in conventional swine grower-finisher diets

has no detrimental effects on pig performance, carcass quality or pork quality When diets are

formulated on a total amino acid basis, it appears that inclusion rates of 20% or higher result in

depressed growth performance Including DDGS at concentrations of 20 to 30% of the diet, and

using soybean oil as a supplemental fat source for grower-finisher pigs does not affect muscle

composition or quality, but decreases the saturation of fatty acids, resulting in softer bellies and

may negatively affect further processing traits

A recent commercial field trial conducted by the University of Minnesota and Land O’

Lakes/Purina Feed was conducted in the summer of 2006 to further evaluate the impact of

feeding conventional corn-soybean meal grower-finisher diets – with or without 10% DDGS –

on pork fat quality Two cooperating pork producers were selected for this study Each producer

had typical commercial 1,000 head finishing barns and were located in southern Minnesota Each

40-pen barn was a double curtain sided building with 8 foot pits, utilized pit fans for ventilation and weighted baffle ceiling air inlets Both farms had common genetics consisting of Monsanto Genepacker sows mated with Monsanto EB terminal line boar semen Overall health status of both groups of pigs was very good Feed for both farms was formulated and provided by Land O’ Lakes/Purina Feed Producer A fed typical corn-soybean meal diets, whereas Producer B fed corn-soybean meal diets containing 10% DDGS An eight-phase mixed sex feeding program was used and the last finisher diet contained 4.5g Paylean Diets within each phase contained similar nutrient levels with and without 10% DDGS All diets within each phase contained the same level of choice white grease as the supplemental fat source (supplemental levels ranged from 1.25-3.75% depending on the diet phase)

One hundred twenty eight pigs were randomly selected from each group for evaluation of carcass traits At 24 hours postmortem, a total of 48 mid-belly samples were collected from each dietary

treatment group, with equal numbers of barrows (n=12) and gilts (n=12) from each farm From

the 48 mid-belly samples, a visual color score (on a scale from 1-4 with 1 = pale and 4 = dark) was determined by a group of six panelists using a visual system for Japanese pork fat color scores All belly fat samples were then analyzed to determine complete fatty acid profiles Iodine value and mean melting point were calculated using fatty acid data from each sample

As shown in Table 5, pigs fed the 10% DDGS grew equally well, consumed less feed, had better feed conversion and lower feed cost per pound of gain compared to pigs fed the corn-soybean diets without DDGS At slaughter, there were no differences in carcass weight, backfat thickness or percentage of ham, loin and belly relative to total carcass weight (Table 6) In

addition, there were no differences in loin depth or percentage of lean muscle in the carcasses between the two groups These results are in agreement with the growth performance and carcass composition results obtained in the study conducted by Whitney et al (2006c) and clearly show that feeding corn-soybean meal diets containing 10% DDGS have no negative on growth

performance and carcass characteristics of grower-finisher pigs In fact, the producer who fed the DDGS diets in this study obtained the same carcass quality at a lower feed cost per pound of gain compared to the producer who fed diets without DDGS

When the composition and quality characteristics of belly fat from these pigs were evaluated, there were no differences in color score based upon Japanese pork fat quality standards (Table 7), nor were there any differences in mean melting point of the belly fat However, bellies from pigs fed the 10% DDGS diets had a higher iodine value than pigs fed the diets without DDGS This is also in agreement with the results obtained in the study reported by Whitney et al (2006) shown in Table 4 The iodine values are similar and below the suggested maximum threshold of

70 These results clearly show that feeding diets containing 10% DDGS to grower-finisher pigs have negative effects on pork fat quality As expected, the levels of linoleic acid, polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega 6 fatty acids increase in belly fat when pigs are fed diets containing 10% DDGS, but are well within accepted standards of acceptable pork fat quality

Table 5: Growth Performance, Feed Usage and Feed Cost of Grower-Finisher Pigs Fed Diets Containing 0 or 10% DDGS

0% DDGS 10% DDGS ADG, kg 0.82 0.83

Kg Feed/Head 258.5 251.2

Feed Cost/Lb Gain, $ 0.077 0.073

Table 6: Carcass Characteristics of Grower-Finisher Pigs Fed Diets Containing 0 or 10% DDGS

0% DDGS 10% DDGS Carcass weight, kg 96.1 95.2

Last rib backfat, mm 27.3 27.8

Tenth rib backfat, in 25.3 24.8

Belly, % 10.51 10.41

Loin depth, mm 68.0 68.0

% Carcass lean 56.36 56.47

Table 7: Mid-Belly Fat Quality Characteristics of Carcasses from Grower-Finisher Pigs Fed Diets Containing 0 or 10% DDGS

Measurement 0% DDGS 10% DDGS

a, b

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 05)

c, d

Means within row with unlike superscripts are different (P < 0001)

Based upon these research results, there is no reason for concern when feeding grower-finisher diets containing 10% DDGS on carcass or pork quality The composition of some fatty acids (e.g linoleic acid, polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega 6 fatty acids) in pork fat increase with the addition of DDGS to corn-soybean meal diets, but do not alter the acceptability based upon current industry standards Furthermore, there is no evidence suggesting that feeding grower-finisher pigs diets containing 10% DDGS will decrease the quality and acceptability of U.S pork

in the Japanese export market

Gralapp et al (2002) conducted two experiments to evaluate the impact of the level of DDGS added to grower-finisher diets on manure characteristics, odor emissions and growth

performance Three diets containing 0, 5 or 10% DDGS were fed to 72 finishing pigs during six four-week periods They found that ADG and feed efficiency were reduced at higher DDGS dietary inclusion rates, but there was a tendency for higher feed intake in pigs fed the 10%

DDGS diet, 2.91 kg/day vs 2.73 and 2.75 kg/day for pigs fed the 5 and 0% DDGS diets,

respectively These results confirm that pig growth performance is not affected when fed diets containing 10% DDGS compared to feeding typical corn-soybean meal diets DeDecker et al (2005) showed that feeding grower-finisher diets containing 30% DDGS could be achieved without any negative effects on growth performance, but carcass yield decreased linearly as dietary DDGS level increased

Use of DDGS in gestation and lactation diets

Three studies have been conducted to determine the optimum inclusion rate of DDGS in diets for sows during gestation and lactation (Thong et al., 1978; Monegue and Cromwell, 1995; Wilson et al., 2003), and recommendations for maximum dietary inclusion rates have been published based upon results obtained by Thong et al., 1964 and Monegue and Cromwell, 1995 (Weigel et al., 1997; Pork Industry Handbook, 1998) As a result of limited information of

feeding DDGS to sows, current recommendations for DDGS inclusion for use of DDGS in sow diets are somewhat different The Feed Co-Products Handbook (Weigel et al., 1997) lists the maximum inclusion rate for DDGS to be up to 50% in gestation diets and up to 20% in lactation diets The Pork Industry Handbook, however, recommends slightly lower levels of DDGS usage, suggesting up to 40% in gestation diets and a maximum inclusion rate of 10% in lactation diets (PIH Factsheet #112)

Thong et al (1978) conducted an experiment using 64 gilts to evaluate the use of DDGS as a replacement for soybean meal in a corn-soybean meal diet fed during gestation To conduct this experiment, sows were fed diets containing either 0, 17.7 or 44.2% DDGS during gestation All diets were formulated to contain 0.42% total dietary lysine Number of pigs farrowed per litter and average pig birth weight were not significantly affected by dietary treatment The authors concluded that DDGS could replace soybean meal on a lysine-equivalent basis as a source of supplemental amino acids at levels up to 44.2% of the diet for gestating sows

Monegue and Cromwell (1995) compared reproductive performance of sows fed a fortified corn-soybean meal diet to sows fed diets containing 40 or 80% corn gluten feed (CGF) and sows fed diets containing 40 or 80% DDGS during gestation A total of 90 parity 4 crossbred sows (18 sows/dietary treatment) were used in this study Diets contained similar levels of total lysine and were fed at different levels to equalize ME intake at 6.2 Mcal/sow/day Sows were allowed to

consume a fortified corn-soybean meal diet ad libitum during the subsequent 28-day lactation

period Farrowing rates averaged 91% and were not affected by dietary treatment Gestation weight gains tended to be greater in sows fed the CGF and DDGS diets indicating that the energy

in these co-products was well utilized Lactation feed intake and sow weight loss during lactation were similar among dietary treatments Litter size at birth and pig birth weights were not affected

by dietary treatment, although numerically, sows fed the 80% DDGS had slightly smaller litters Litter size weaned and litter weaning weights were not different among dietary treatments, although feeding the 80% CGF diet and the DDGS diets during lactation numerically reduced litter size weaned and increased individual pig weight at weaning There were no differences in

litter weaning weight and pig survival percentage to weaning among dietary treatments Days for sows to return to estrus following weaning were similar among dietary treatment groups and averaged 4.7 days The authors concluded that diets containing high levels of CGF and DDGS,

up to 80% of the gestation diet, are well utilized, and do not appear to impair reproductive or lactation performance

More recently, Wilson et al (2003) conducted a two-parity study utilizing 93 multiparous sows

to determine the effects of feeding diets containing 50% DDGS in gestation and 20% DDGS in lactation on sow reproductive performance Nutrient balance was also determined from day 100

to day 105 of pregnancy using 14 gestating sows Sows were allotted based on parity and initial body weight to one of two gestation diets (0 or 50% DDGS, corn-soybean meal based diets), and one of two lactation diets (0 or 20% DDGS, corn-soybean meal based diets) Sows were fed a daily amount of feed based on 1% of sow body weight plus 100 g, 300 g and 500 g per day on

days 0 to 30, 31 to 60 and 61 to 90 days of gestation, respectively Sows were provided ad

libitum access to feed during lactation Sows remained on their respective dietary treatment

combinations through two reproductive cycles No differences in sow gestation weight gain, pigs born alive per litter, litter birth weight, or average pig birth weight were observed between sows fed 0 and 50% DDGS diets during gestation for both reproductive cycles Dietary treatment combination had no effect on litter size, litter birth weight or litter weaning weight during the first reproductive cycle, but sows fed 0% DDGS gestation and lactation diets weaned fewer pigs per litter during the second reproductive cycle Pre-weaning mortality was higher for sows fed the 50% DDGS gestation diet and 20% DDGS lactation diet compared to other treatment

combinations during the first reproductive cycle, but dietary treatment combinations had no effect on pre-weaning mortality during the second reproductive cycle Sows fed the 0% DDGS gestation diet and the 20% DDGS lactation diet had lower lactation feed intake, which primarily occurred within the first seven days of lactation, but this effect was not observed during the second reproductive cycle Wean-to-estrus interval was higher for sows fed the 0% DDGS gestation and lactation diet treatment combination compared to sows fed the 50% DDGS

gestation, 20% DDGS lactation diet combination and the 50% DDGS gestation, 0% DDGS lactation diet combination during the first reproductive cycle No wean-to-estrus interval

differences were observed during the second reproductive cycle Sows fed the 50% DDGS diet

in late gestation consumed more energy, nitrogen, sulfur and potassium, and had greater

nitrogen, sulfur and phosphorus retention than sows fed the 0% DDGS gestation diet These results indicate that feeding a gestation diet containing 50% DDGS will support good

reproductive performance However, feeding a 20% DDGS lactation diet may reduce feed intake during the first week post-partum if sows were fed a corn-soybean meal diet during gestation and not provided an adjustment period to adapt to a high DDGS diet during lactation

Hill et al (2005) conducted a study to determine if lactating sows could utilize diets containing 15% DDGS to maintain body weight and lactation performance while decreasing manure

phosphorus excretion Their results showed that the inclusion of 15% DDGS in a lactation diet supports good sow performance while maintaining – and perhaps reducing – manure phosphorus excretion

DDGS and manure management

Spiehs et al (2000) conducted a 10-week trial to measure odor and gas characteristics of swine manure and energy, nitrogen, and phosphorus balance of grow-finish pigs fed corn-soybean meal