The majority of phosphorus in conventional soybean meal is bound in the phytate complex. Pigs do not secrete the phytase enzyme, so phytate-bound phosphorus is not digested and is excreted in the feces. Not only does this deprive pigs of an essential nutrient, but excessive phosphorus excretion can contribute to environmental problems as well.

Addition of microbial phytase is one strategy for increasing the digestibility of phosphorus in soybean meal. Another potentially effective strategy is to feed fermented soybean meal.  Fermentation may result in hydrolysis of phytate and release of phytate-bound phosphorus, thus making more phosphorus available to the pig.

Stein, H. H. 2010. Materias primas alternativas en nutrición porcina: 2. Granos secos de destilería con solubles. Pages 34-45 in Suis, December 2010. Link to full text (.pdf)

Stein, H. H. 2011. Energy and nutrient concentration and digestibility in alternative feed ingredients and recommended inclusion rates. In Proceedings of the American Association of Swine Veterinarians 42nd Annual Meeting. Phoenix, AZ. Link to full text (.pdf)

Rising costs of traditional swine feeds are causing many producers to look for alternative feedstuffs to deliver nutritional value at a lower cost. The corn milling and fermentation industries, and the human food industry, create co-products which can be fed to livestock.  One of these, distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), has been found to be suitable for inclusion in swine diets up to 30%. Other co-products have not been as extensively studied. This experiment was performed to measure the apparent (AID) and standardized (SID) ileal digestibility of crude protein and amino acids in corn gluten meal, corn gluten feed, corn germ meal, hominy feed, and bakery meal in growing pigs and to compare these values to the values observed for DDGS and corn.

Goebel, K. P., and H. H. Stein. 2011. Phosphorus digestibility and energy concentration of enzyme-treated and conventional soybean meal fed to weanling pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 89:764–772. Link to full text (.pdf)

By Dr. Hans H. Stein

January, 2011

Although the cost of DDGS has increased during the last 6 months, there are still significant savings associated with the use of DDGS in swine diets. DDGS will replace corn, soybean meal, and inorganic phosphorus sources in diets fed to pigs. Because the costs of these ingredients have increased more than the cost of DDGS, it is a good idea to include DDGS in the diets to help reduce feed costs. With current prices for corn, soybean meal, and DDGS, costs of swine diets are reduced by 7 to 9 dollars per ton for each 10% DDGS that are included in the diets (Figure 1). In most cases, 30% DDGS can be included in diets fed to all categories of pigs if an average or above average quality of DDGS is used and if diets are properly balanced for all nutrients. If 30% DDGS is included in diets fed to sows, weanling pigs, and growing-finishing pigs, the total cost savings by using DDGS is approximately 10 dollars per market pig produced.

Kil, D. Y., F. Ji, L. L. Stewart, R. B. Hinson, A. D. Beaulieu, G. L. Allee, J. F. Patience, J. E. Pettigrew, and H. H. Stein. 2011. Net energy of soybean oil and choice white grease in diets fed to growing and finishing pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 89:448-459. Link to full text (.pdf)

Stein, H. H. 2010. Nutrient and energy utilization by swine. Pages 31-42 in Proc. 26^th annual North Carolina Swine Nutrition conference, Nov. 10, 2010. Raleigh, NC. Link to full text (.pdf)

Kil, D. Y., and H. H. Stein. 2010. Invited Review: Management and feeding strategies to ameliorate the impact of removing antibiotic growth promoters from diets fed to weanling pigs. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 90:447-460. Link to full text (.pdf)