Rodriguez, Diego A., Su A Lee, and Hans H. Stein. 2020. Digestibility of amino acids and concentrations of metabolizable energy and net energy are greater in high-shear dry soybean expellers than in soybean meal when fed to growing pigs. Journal of Animal Science, 2020, Vol. 98, No. 7, 1–8.

doi:10.1093/jas/skaa215. Link to full text.

McGhee, Molly L., and Hans. H. Stein. 2020. The apparent ileal digestibility and the apparent total tract digestibility of carbohydrates and energy in hybrid rye are different from some other cereal grains when fed to growing pigs. Journal of Animal Science, 2020, Vol. 98, No. 7, 1–10. doi:10.1093/jas/skaa218. Link to full text.

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.

Several experiments were conducted to estimate Ca digestibility in different feed ingredients in the presence or absence of microbial phytase to allow formulation of diets for pigs to be based on standardized total tract digestible (STTD) Ca instead of total Ca. Thus, 4 experiments aimed at determining Ca requirements expressed as a ratio between STTD Ca and STTD P in pigs from 11 to 130 kg. A follow-up study was later conducted to validate those data and to evaluate the effect of using ratios that maximize growth performance on bone development because maximum bone ash requires more Ca than maximum growth performance. However, data indicate that STTD Ca to STTD P ratios to maximize Ca retention are greater than to maximize bone ash synthesis. The use of STTD Ca to STTD P ratios in diet formulation may result in a reduction in excess dietary Ca, which is beneficial because excess dietary Ca is detrimental to P digestibility and growth performance of pigs. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that formulating diets for growing pigs based on a ratio between STTD Ca and STTD P instead of total Ca and STTD P does not decrease Ca retention, but increases P utilization.

Bailey, Hannah M., and Hans H. Stein. 2020. Raw and roasted pistachio nuts (Pistacia vera L.) are ‘good’ sources of protein based on their digestible indispensable amino acid score as determined in pigs. J Sci Food Agric 2020; 100: 3878–3885. Link to full text.

Bailey, Hannah M., John K. Mathai, Eric P. Berg, and Hans H. Stein. 2020. Most meat products have digestible indispensable amino acid scores that are greater than 100, but processing may increase or reduce protein quality. British Journal of Nutrition (2020), 124, 14–22. doi:10.1017/S0007114520000641. Link to full text.

Thomas, Lori L., Charmaine D. Espinosa, Robert D. Goodband, Hans H. Stein, Mike D. Tokach, Steve S. Dritz, Jason C. Woodworth, and Joel M. DeRouchey. 2020. Nutritional evaluation of different varieties of sorghum and the effects on nursery pig growth performance. Journal of Animal Science, 2020, 1–16.  doi:10.1093/jas/skaa120.

Bakery meal consist of unsalable bread, breakfast cereals, cookies, pasta, and other foods that are no longer intended for human consumption. Bakery meal converts losses from the food industry into ingredients for the animal feed industry, thereby preventing food losses in the food chain. Wheat flour is the main ingredient in most bakery products, and this results in bakery meal containing high concentration of starch. Therefore, bakery meal is a potential sustainable feed ingredient that can be used in animal diets without competing with the food industry. However, research demonstrating the effect of bakery meal on growth performance for weanling pigs is limited. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that replacing corn with bakery meal will not influence growth performance of pigs.