Digestibility of Ca and P is most correctly determined as standardized total tract digestibility (STTD). Data for the STTD of P in most feed ingredients have been published, and the STTD of Ca has also been determined in many feed ingredients. However, in practical diet formulation, values for STTD of Ca and P obtained in growing pigs are also applied to sows although there is a lack of comparative data between growing pigs and sows.

Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that no differences exist between gestating sows and growing pigs for basal endogenous losses, STTD, and retention of Ca and P.

Yanhong Liu, Charmaine D. Espinosa, Jerubella J. Abelilla, Gloria A. Casas, L. Vanessa Lagos, Su A. Lee, Woong B. Kwon, John K. Mathai, Diego M.D.L. Navarro, Neil W. Jaworski, Hans H. Stein. 2018. Non-antibiotic feed additives in diets for pigs: A review. Anim. Nutr. 4:113-125. Link to full text (.pdf)

Lee, S. A., C. D. Espinosa, and H. H. Stein. 2018. Digestibility of amino acids, energy, fat, and fiber and digestible and metabolizable energy in low-oil distillers dried grains with solubles fed to growing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 96(Suppl. 2):172-173 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Lee, S. A., C. L. Walk, and H. H. Stein. 2018. Comparative digestibility and retention of calcium and phosphorus by gestating sows and growing pigs fed low- and high-phytate diets without or with microbial phytase. J. Anim. Sci. 96(Suppl. 2):83 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Dakota Gold is a low-oil source of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) produced using a cold-fermentation process. Recent research conducted by the Stein Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory has demonstrated that the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids is greater in Dakota Gold than in conventional DDGS, but Dakota Gold contains less metabolizable energy (ME) than conventional DDGS.

An experiment was conducted to determine effects on growth performance and carcass characteristics of feeding Dakota Gold or conventional DDGS to pigs from weaning to market. Because limited information exists about effects of pelleting on growth performance of pigs fed diets that contain DDGS, this research also tested the effects of feeding diets containing either Dakota Gold or conventional DDGS in a meal form or in a pelleted form.

In recent years, companies that produce distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) have begun to remove some of the corn oil for use in biodiesel production. Conventional DDGS contains 10-12% fat, compared with 6-9% in low-oil DDGS.

There is limited information about how oil concentration in DDGS influences the digestibility of energy, fiber, and fat when fed to pigs. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy, neutral detergent fiber (NDF), acid detergent fiber (ADF), and acid hydrolyzed ether extract (AEE), as well as the concentrations of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) in two sources of DDGS. One source was a conventional DDGS, and the other was Dakota Gold, a low-oil DDGS.

In recent years, ethanol plants have begun extracting more oil from the solubles left over after fermentation. The resulting low oil distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) contain less digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) than traditional DDGS.

The fat content of the diet affects the digestibility of energy and nutrients. Because the production of low oil DDGS is a relatively new development, it has not been established that digestibility values are the same across suppliers. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to measure the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and the concentration of DE and ME among DDGS samples from different suppliers.