Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is a co-product of the ethanol industry and is often used as an economical source of energy and protein in swine diets. Conventional DDGS contains approximately 27% crude protein, 10% fat, 9% acid detergent fiber (ADF), and 25% (NDF). The concentrations of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) in conventional sources of DDGS are approximately 3,500 and 3,350 kcal/kg, respectively. However, there is significant variation in the way different plants produce DDGS. For example, in recent years ethanol plants have begun extracting oil from DDGS to sell to the biodiesel industry. This results in DDGS with its fat content reduced to approximately 6 to 9%, which may result in lower concentrations of DE and ME.
If pigs are fed diets containing decreased levels of DE and ME relative to conventional DDGS, a reduction in growth performance may result. This would make DDGS a less economical feedstuff. An experiment was conducted to determine the variability of DE and ME in DDGS produced in and around Illinois.