Lee, Su A, Hans H. Stein. 2020. Effects of dietary amino acid concentration on digestibility of amino acids in soybean meal and soy protein concentrate fed to growing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 98(Suppl. 3): 65. doi.org/10.1093/jas/skaa054.118. (Abstr.). Link to abstract.

Oliveira, M. S. F., M. K. Wiltafsky, S. A. Lee, K. W. Kwon, and H. H. Stein. 2020. Concentrations of digestible and metabolizable energy and amino acid digestibility by growing pigs may be reduced by autoclaving soybean meal. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol. 114621. Link to full text.

Sunflower meal, which is the co-product derived from sunflower seeds after oil extraction, has a high concentration of digestible amino acids (AA) and fiber. The nutritive value and quality of sunflower meal is partially dependent on the degree of dehulling, the variety of the sunflower, and the oil extraction process. Sunflower seeds are initially de-hulled and then partially de-oiled using a mechanial prepress procedure. A second de-oiling procedure is performed using a solvent extraction procedure or by usign a second mechanical expelling procedure. The prepress-solvent extraction procedure results in production of sunflower oil and sunflower meal that contains 1 to 3% oil, whereas the double-press procedure results in production of sunflower oil and a sunflower product that contains 5 to 10% residual oil and commonly is referred to as sunflower expellers. Some of the hulls may be added back to the sunflower meal or the sunflower expellers resulting in differences in concentrations of total dietary fiber among sources.

The apparent ileal digestibility and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of crude protein (CP) and AA in individual sources of partially de-hulled sunflower meal fed to pigs have been reported. However, there are no comparative values for the SID of AA in sunflower meal produced in different parts of the world, and it is not known if the SID of AA in sunflower meal are different from those in sunflower expellers. Therefore, the objective of the current study was to test the hypothesis that there is no difference in the SID of CP and AA in different sources of sunflower meal and sunflower expellers obtained from different countries.

Rodriguez, Diego A., Su A Lee, and Hans H. Stein. 2020. Digestibility of amino acids, but not fiber, fat, or energy, is greater in cold-fermented, low-oil distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) compared with conventional DDGS fed to growing pigs. Journal of Animal Science, 2020, Vol. 98, No. 10, 1–8. doi:10.1093/jas/skaa297.

In most AA digestibility experiments collection bags are changed at least every 30 min and the collected ileal digesta are stored at –20 °C to prevent microbial degradation of proteins. Other attempts to reduce microbial activity in digesta include adding acids to collection bags to reduce the pH in ileal digesta. Acids may also be added to collection pitchers. However, in some experiments, no attempt to reduce pH is made because it is assumed that the rapid reduction in temperature after collection is sufficient to prevent microbial degradation of proteins.

To our knowledge, there is, however, no information about the necessity of adding acids to collected digesta and it is not known if values for apparent ileal digestibility (AID), basal endogenous losses of AA, or standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA are influenced by addition of acids to digesta. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the null-hypothesis that values for AID, basal endogenous losses, and SID of AA are not influenced by addition of acids to ileal digesta collection bags or to collection pitchers.

Absorption of Ca and P by active transport in the small intestine is regulated by calcitriol, which is the active form of vitamin D (1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol) and the hormones calcitonin and PTH. One-alpha-hydroxycholecalciferol (1-α-OH-D₃) is an active vitamin D₃ analog that does not require the second hydroxylation step for vitamin D₃ to be active. It is possible that supplementation of 1-α-OH-D₃ may increase absorption of Ca and P.

The requirement for Ca and P by gestating sows increases in late gestation compared with early- and mid-gestation because of increased needs by the developing fetuses. It is also possible that dietary concentrations of Ca and P affect the rate of absorption of Ca and P in sows but data to demonstrate this have not been reported. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that the Ca and P concentrations in diets fed to gestating sows in late gestation and supplementation of 1-α-OH-D₃ affect apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and retention of Ca and P as well as the ATTD of GE and concentration of DE in diets. The second hypothesis was that there is an interaction between dietary Ca and P concentrations and supplementation of 1-α-OH-D₃ in diets fed to gestating sows.

Rodriguez, Diego A., Su A. Lee, Cassandra K. Jones, John K. Htoo, Hans H. Stein. 2020. Digestibility of amino acids, fiber, and energy by growing pigs, and concentrations of digestible and metabolizable energy in yellow dent corn, hard red winter wheat, and sorghum may be influenced by extrusion. Animal Feed Science and Technology 268 (2020) 114602. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2020.114602.

Kim, Beob G., Su A Lee, Kyu R. Park, and Hans H. Stein. 2020. At least 3 days of adaptation are required before indigestible markers (chromium, titanium, and acid insoluble ash) are stabilized in the ileal digesta of 60-kg pigs, but values for amino acid digestibility are affected by the marker. Journal of Animal Science, 2020,  Vol. 98: No.

Casas, Gloria A., Laia Blavi, Tzu-Wen L. Cross, Anne H. Lee, Kelly S. Swanson, and Hans H. Stein. 2020. Inclusion of the direct-fed microbial Clostridium butyricum in diets for weanling pigs increases growth performance and tends to increase villus height and crypt depth, but does not change intestinal microbial abundance. Journal of Animal Science, 2020, 1–12. doi:10.1093/jas/skz372.