Lee, J. W., B. D. Keever, J. Killefer, F. K. McKeith, and H. H. Stein. 2011. Effects of including tallow, palm kernel oil, corn germ, or glycerol to diets containing distillers dried grains with solubles on pork fat quality of growing-finishing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):679 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Almeida, F. N., G. I. Petersen, and H. H. Stein. 2011. Digestibility of amino acids in corn, corn co-­products, and bakery meal fed to growing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 1):441 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Lee, J. W., B. D. Keever, J. Killefer, F. K. McKeith, and H. H. Stein. 2011. Effects of corn germ, tallow, palm kernel oil, or glycerol on fat quality of pigs fed diets containing distillers dried grains with solubles. J. Anim. Sci. 89(E-Suppl. 2):98 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) can be fed in swine diets at an inclusion rate of up to 30% without negatively affecting pig growth performance. However, DDGS contains high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA), which may promote deposition of unsaturated dietary fatty acids in adipose tissue. Consequently, inclusion of DDGS at more than 20% has been shown to result in increased fat iodine values (IV) and soft belly production.  The disadvantages of this decrease in fat quality include reduced shelf life, increased susceptibility to oxidative damage, and reduced belly sliceability.

An experiment was performed to determine if the addition of different sources of saturated fat would improve belly fat quality in pigs fed a DDGS-based diet. In addition, the hypothesis that the iodine value product (IVP) of the diet can be used to predict backfat IV and belly fat IV of pigs fed diets containing DDGS was tested.

Stein, H. H. 2011. Energy and nutrient concentration and digestibility in alternative feed ingredients and recommended inclusion rates. In Proceedings of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians 42nd Annual Meeting. Phoenix, AZ. Link to full text (.pdf)

By Dr. Hans H. Stein

February, 2011

Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is the most common co-product generated from the ethanol industry and the production in the US of DDGS is now greater than the production of soybean meal. While DDGS is an excellent feed ingredient that in most cases can be included in diets fed to all groups of pigs at levels of at least 20 to 30%, there are also other corn co-products that may be used in diets fed to pigs.

Widmer, M. R., L. M. McGinnis, D. M. Wulf, and H. H. Stein. 2007. Effects of co-products from the ethanol industry on pig performance and carcass composition. J. Anim. Sci. 85(Suppl. 1):437 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)