250 The Impact of Increasing Levels of Dried Distillers Grains and Solubles on Finishing Pig Performance

Abstract

Abstract Due to ethanol plants continuing to be more efficient extracting corn oil out of dried distillers grains and solubles (DDGS), it is necessary to understand how pigs are utilizing the energy in diets with increasing levels of current DDGS. A total of 1,120 finishing pigs (DNA 600 x 241, initially 17.5 kg) were used in a 120-day experiment to evaluate the effects of DDGS on growth performance from approximately 8 to 25 weeks of age. Dietary treatments consisted of a corn and soybean meal-based diet with either 0, 10, 20, 30, or 40% DDGS. Pigs were fed a seven-phase finishing diet program to meet their nutritional requirements. Dietary energy was allowed to fluctuate with changing levels of DDGS while maintaining a constant SID lysine to calorie ratio. Pens of pigs were randomly allotted to 1 of the 5 treatments, with 32 pigs per pen and 7 replicates per treatment. Sex was equally represented in each pen. Pigs were harvested (average final BW of 127 kg) at a commercial facility. Data were modeled in R (R Core Team, 2020) to test for both linearity and non-linear responses to DDGS levels in the diet. Models included DDGS treatment and trial start weight and pen was the experiment unit. Traits analyzed included average daily gain (ADG, kg/d), Gain to Feed (G:F), average daily feed intake (ADFI, kg/d), hot carcass weight (kg) and carcass yield (%). All traits were found to have linear trends with increasing DDGS inclusion levels (Linear: P ≤ 0.02; Quadratic: P ≥ 0.29). Overall, there was a reduction in ADG as DDGS inclusion increased from 1.00 (± 0.01) with 0% DDGS to 0.96 (± 0.01) kg/day for 40% DDGS (P = 0.04). There was a decrease in gain to feed ratio (0.39 to 0.35) with increasing DDGS inclusion (P < 0.001). Hot carcass weight decreased with increased inclusion of DDGS from 97.25 to 93.39 kg (P = 0.001), while carcass yield was not significantly different across DDGS inclusion levels ranging from 75.3% to 74.7% for 0% and 40% DDGS inclusion (P = 0.2), respectively. These data indicate that increasing levels of DDGS reduce ADG, feed efficiency, and carcass weight.