Digestible energy and amino acid contents in Canadian varieties of sorghum, pearl millet, high-oil corn, high-oil–high-protein corn and regular corn samples for growing pigs

Abstract

Fecal digestible energy (DE) and ileal digestible crude protein (CP) and amino acid (AA) contents in sorghum, pear millet, high-oil corn, high-oil-high-protein corn, regular corn I and II were determined in growing pigs fitted with ileal “T ”cannulas. The cereal grain samples were grown in Canada and supplemented with vitamins and minerals to produce six experimental diets. Six pigs, with an average initial body weight of 17 kg, were fed the diets during six subsequent experimental periods according to a Latin square design. Pigs were fed twice daily at 2.6 times maintenance energy requirements. After a 7-d adjustment period, feces were collected for 3 d, followed by a 48-h collection of ileal digesta. Apparent and standardized ileal AA digestibilities were calculated. The high-oil corn and high-oil-high-protein corn had the highest (P < 0.05) DE content [4029, 4048 kcal kg-1 dry matter (DM), respectively]. The sorghum had a higher (P < 0.05) DE content (3941 kcal kg-1 DM) than pear millet (3603 kcal kg-1 DM) and regular corn I (3710 kcal kg-1 DM basis) and similar DE content to regular corn II (3945 kcal kg-1 DM). Contents of standardized ileal digestible CP and AA varied between cereal grains were generally highest (P < 0.05) for PM (CP: 101.6 g kg-1 DM; lysine, methionine plus cysteine, threonine: 3.4, 4.8 and 4.3 g kg-1 DM, respectively), HOPC (CP: 100.9 g kg-1 DM; lysine, methionine plus cysteine, threonine: 3.1, 5.4 and 4.3 g kg-1 DM, respectively) and similar for the other cereal grains (CP: 94.1–98.4 g kg-1 DM; lysine, methionine plus cysteine, threonine: 2.6–3.0, 3.4–4.3 and 3.3–4.0 g kg-1 DM, respectively). Differences in feeding values of these cereal grains should be considered when evaluating their potential inclusion in pig diets. Key words: Grains, pigs, energy, amino acids, digestibility