Kwon, W. B., and H. H. Stein. 2020. Tryptophan can partially overcome negative effects of leucine in pig diets. National Hog Farmer, Online edition. Jan.

Exogenous carbohydrases can be used in diets for pigs to increase digestibility of dietary fiber and energy in cereal grains and cereal co-products. The three main fibers in cereal grains and cereal co-products are arabinoxylans, cellulose, and mixed-linked beta glucans. The fermentability is different among these three types of fiber. Energy digestibility is often improved if xylanase is added to wheat-based diets, whereas positive responses to xylanase in corn-based diets have been difficult to demonstrate, indicating that fermentation of dietary fiber differs among ingredients. However, there is less information about effects of carbohydrases on digestibility of fiber and energy in sorghum-based diets. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that xylanase and cellulase improve the digestibility of energy and total dietary fiber in diets based on corn or sorghum with addition of high fiber co-products.

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.

Recent research conducted at the University of Illinois Swine Research Center demonstrated positive effects of feeding copper hydroxychloride to weanling pigs, including improved growth performance and positive changes in intestinal health. It is, however, not known if copper hydroxychloride would also elicit positive effects in growing-finishing pigs. Additionally, it is also not known if the positive effects of copper hydroxychloride are obtained regardless of the origin of the mineral, or if the response is specific to the product produced by a specific supplier. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that inclusion of copper hydroxychloride in diets for growing-finishing pigs would improve growth performance, and secondly that the origin of the copper hydroxychloride is not important for the outcome.

Rye contains considerable quantities of intrinsic phytase and the presence of phytase in rye may result in an increased P digestibility in pigs without using exogenous phytase. It is possible that the endogenous phytase in rye also increases P digestibility in other plant feed ingredients by releasing P from the phytate. However, to our knowledge, no data demonstrating this effect have been published. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that inclusion of rye in diets containing corn and soybean meal (SBM) without or with microbial phytase improves the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of P and Ca and thus the ATTD of P is not additive in the mixed diet.

Galkanda‐Arachchige, Harsha S. C., Jingping Guo, Hans H. Stein. Donald Allen Davis. 2020. Apparent energy, dry matter and amino acid digestibility of differently sourced soybean meal fed to Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. Aquaculture Research. 2020;51:326–340, DOI: 10.1111/are.14378. Link to full text.

When soybeans are crushed, the oil may be solvent extracted and the resulting defatted soybeans are known as soybean meal (SBM). However, the oil may also be mechanically expelled from the beans and the defatted soybeans resulting from this procedure is an ingredient known as soybean expellers. The expelling procedure is less efficient in removing oil from the beans and soybean expellers, therefore, contain more residual oil than SBM. Soybean expellers can be produced using different technologies, and a new procedure involving a patented high shear dry extrusion procedure was recently developed (Insta-Pro International, Des Moines, IA). There are however, no data for the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of GE and total dietary fiber (TDF) and DE and ME concentrations in the soybean expellers that are produced from this procedure. Therefore, the objective of this research was to test the hypothesis that the ATTD of GE and TDF and concentrations of DE and ME are greater in soybean expellers than in SBM when fed to growing pigs.

Ansia, I., H.H. Stein, C. Brøkner, D.A. Vermeire, and J.K. Drackley. 2019. Ileal digestibility of an enzyme-treated soybean meal for milk replacer in pre-weaned dairy calves. Abstract 14 in 37th ADSA Discover Conference Program: Natural Bioactives in Dairy Production: Science, Functions and the Future, Itasca, IL. (Abstr.). Link to full text.

Espinosa, C. D., R. S. Fry, J. Usry, and H. H. Stein. 2019. Effects of copper hydroxychloride and choice white grease on growth performance and blood characteristics of weanling pigs kept at normal ambient temperature or under heat stress. Anim. Feed Sci. Technol.256:114257. doi.org/10.1016/j.anifeedsci.2019.114257. Link to full text.