Editor's Note
The current issue of the newsletter contains the following:
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Two research reports on amino acid digestibility in feather meal and in blood products. -
A podcast on the use of soybean products in swine diets. -
Two new publications from the Stein Monogastric Nutrition Laboratory.
I hope you will find this information useful. To subscribe to the newsletter, please visit http://nutrition.ansci.illinois.edu/newsletter.
Sincerely,
Hans H Stein
Research Reports
Comparative amino acid digestibility in feather meal fed to pigs
Hydrolyzed feather meal is a co-product of the rendering industry that can be used as a protein source in diets fed to pigs. However, the variability in quality and digestibility between different sources of hydrolyzed feather meal has limited its use in swine diets. An experiment was conducted to determine the apparent (AID) and the standardized (SID) ileal digestibility of crude protein and amino acids in four sources of hydrolyzed feather meal. Because blood is sometimes added to feather meal during processing, the experiment also evaluated the effects on crude protein and amino acid digestibility of the addition of blood to feather meal.
Comparative amino acid digestibility in blood products fed to weanling pigs
The U.S. slaughter industry produces blood co-products that may be used in diets for nursery pigs because of the high concentration and quality of protein they contain. The quality of protein in blood products can differ based on the processing techniques used. In particular, products which are heated to too high a temperature during processing can sustain heat damage to amino acids due to the Maillard reaction. Lysine is particularly susceptible to heat damage.
An experiment was performed to determine the comparative amino acid digestibility in five different blood products fed to weanling pigs. Three are spray-dried products, which are dried quickly at temperatures of up to 225˚C. Spray-dried animal blood (SDAB) is manufactured from whole blood containing an anticoagulant. Spray-dried plasma protein (SDPP) is manufactured from blood which has had the plasma separated out by centrifugation. Spray-dried blood cells (SDBC) are the red blood cells left after plasma separation. In addition to the spray-dried products, two sources of blood meal were tested – one from an avian source (avian blood meal, or ABM) and one from a porcine source (porcine blood meal, or PBM). These blood meals were dried using drum driers instead of spraydriers.
Podcast
February 27: Use of soybean products in diets for swine
Dr. Hans H. Stein discusses the use of soybean products in swine diets. Topics covered include composition, protein quality and digestibility, energy content and digestibility, phosphorus digestibility and use of phytase, and the effect of heat damage on soybean meal.
Publications
Urriola, P. E. and H. H. Stein. 2012. Comparative digestibility of energy and nutrients in fibrous feed ingredients fed to Meishan and Yorkshire pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 90:802-812.
Stein, H. H. 2012. Soybean meal fed to pigs. White paper presented at the International Poultry Expo, Atlanta, GA, January 24-16, 2012.