Espinosa, Charmaine D., Joaquin Cabañas-Ojeda, Edgar Oviedo-Rondon, Hans H. Stein. 2023. Endosperm Hardness in Corn Affects the Digestibility of Energy and Fiber, and Increased Drying Temperature Reduces Amino Acid Digestibility. J. Anim. Sci., Volume 101, Issue Supplement 2, Pages 299–300, doi.org/10.1093/jas/skad341.340. Link to abstract.

Rodriguez, Diego A., Su A Lee, Hans H. Stein. 2023. Concentration of Net Energy in Corn without or with Microbial Phytase Fed to Group-Housed Pigs. J. Anim. Sci. Volume 101, Issue Supplement 2, Pages 151–152, doi.org/10.1093/jas/skad341.169. Link to abstract.

Protein quality has relied on methods such as PDCAAS. However, the Food and Agriculture Organization has proposed a new method called DIAAS to better assess protein quality in human foods using the pig as a model. This shift is crucial, not only for optimizing diets, but also for understanding the nutritional value of protein-rich foods. According to the DIAAS method, protein claims can only be made for foods with a score above 75. In general, animal-based foods are considered high quality proteins with score above 75 or 100, being, in most cases, complete proteins that can complement lower quality proteins such as plant-based proteins. Meats, eggs, and fish are examples of high quality proteins, however, salmon proteins are also available, and use of by-products in human consumption has been increasing due to their nutritional value and versatility. Novel sources of salmon proteins such as salmon hydrolysate that may be used in human nutrition have been developed. Salmon hydrolysate proteins contain more than 68% crude protein (CP) and are highly digestible food ingredients, but limited information demonstrating the protein quality of these products is available. Therefore, the objectives of this study were to determine the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA) and the digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) for salmon proteins when fed to growing pigs.

Arabinoxylans are the predominant fiber component in cereal grains and cereal co-products. They have a backbone of β-(1− 4) linked xylose units with side chains of arabinose, glucuronic acid, acetyl, and phenolic acids. Xylanase hydrolyzes the β-(1− 4) glycosidic bonds between xylose units in the backbone and releases a mixture of xylose and xylo-oligosaccharides that can be either absorbed or fermented by pigs. Previous data indicate that xylanase increased the degradation of dietary fiber and increased energy digestibility in diets for growing pigs and lactating sows. Xylo-oligosaccharides improve growth performance of nursery pigs because they serve as prebiotics that modulate gut microbiota. A stimbiotic (i.e., xylanase in combination with xylo-oligosaccharides) may improve growth performance of weanling pigs to a greater extent than either additive alone by shifting the intestinal microbiome to favor fiber fermentation. However, there are no data on possible effects of xylanase in sows diets on growth performance and intestinal health of the offspring or on the impact of the stimbiotic on digestibility of nutrients when fed to nursery pigs. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that xylanase or a stimbiotic improves growth performance and the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), gross energy (GE), and total dietary fiber (TDF), and the concentration of digestible energy (DE) of diets for weanling pigs, but that the effect is greater in offspring of sows fed xylanase in lactation than in offspring of sows not fed xylanase.

Stein, Hans H., Olayiwola Adeola, Samuel K. Baidoo, Merlin D. Lindemann, Sunday A. Adedokun, and North Central Coordinating Committee on Swine Nutrition. 2023. Standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids differs among sources of bakery meal when fed to growing pigs. Journal of Animal Science, 101, 1–10. doi.org/10.1093/jas/skad208.

Espinosa, Charmaine D., Joaquin Cabañas-Ojeda, Edgar O. Oviedo-Rondón, and Hans H. Stein. 2023. Effects of corn hardness and drying temperature on digestibility of energy and nutrients in diets fed to growing pigs. Journal of Animal Science, 101: 1–9. doi.org/10.1093/jas/skad124. Link to full text.

Exogenous enzymes may improve the fermentability of dietary fiber in swine diets by hydrolyzing non-starch polysaccharides into oligosaccharides and sugars. In particular, the enzyme xylanase hydrolyzes the β-(1-4) glycosidic bonds between the xylose units in the backbone of arabinoxylans in cereal grains and grain coproducts, resulting in the release of a combination of xylose, arabinose, and xylo-oligosaccharides from arabinoxylans that can be fermented by pigs. Previous data indicate that xylanase increased the degradation of dietary fiber and increased energy digestibility in diets for growing pigs; however, there are limited data for the impact of xylanase on energy and fiber digestibility in gestating and lactating sows. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that exogenous xylanase added to diets for gestating and lactating sows will increase the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy and total dietary fiber (TDF), and increase the concentrations of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) during two reproductive cycles.

Drying temperatures and corn varieties that inherently differ in kernel hardness, virtuousness, and protein solubility index may influence nutrient digestibility in corn. However, information about interactive effects of corn source (i.e., endosperm hardness) and drying method on energy and nutrient digestibility is limited. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that that the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (GE) and total dietary fiber (TDF) is influenced by corn source and drying temperature.

Drying temperatures and corn varieties that inherently differ in kernel hardness, virtuousness, and protein solubility index may influence nutrient digestibility in corn. However, information about interactive effects of corn source (i.e., endosperm hardness) and drying method on nutrient digestibility is limited. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the ileal digestibility of starch, crude protein (CP), and amino acids (AA) is influenced by corn source and drying temperature.