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.

Lee, S. A., and H. H. Stein. 2022. Digestibility and Availability of Nutrients in Feed Ingredients. L. I. Chiba, editor, Sustainable Swine Nutrition. 2nd rev. ed. doi:10.1002/9781119583998.ch19. Link to full text.

New sources of high protein corn co-products have been recently developed and may be included in diets fed to pigs. Phytase is often employed during fermentation in the bioethanol process to improve the efficiency of fermentation. However, the use of phytase during fermentation may impact the nature of phosphorus (P) in any post fermentation products, which could subsequently alter the levels of phytate-bound and non-phytate P. As a consequence, this may influence digestibility and concentration of digestible P in any feed product derived from fermentation. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of P in high protein corn fermented products and in the residual distillers dried grains and solubles (DDGS) produced from a fermentation with or without the use of phytase. It is also the objective of this experiment to test the hypothesis that inclusion of phytase during the fermentation process increases P digestibility in corn co-products.

Data have been published for the composition of wheat middlings from flour mills in the U.S. and data for digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) have been reported as well. However, it is not known if the data obtained in wheat middlings from the U.S. also are representative for wheat middlings in Europe. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the null hypothesis that there are no differences in composition, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (GE), and concentration of DE and ME between wheat middlings sourced from flour mills in Europe and in the U.S.

Oliveira, Maryane. S. F., Guillermo Jimenez, Hans H Stein. 2022. Effects of a Probiotic Bacillus Strain on Ileal Digestibility of Crude Protein, Starch, Energy and fat and Total Tract Digestibility of Energy and Dietary Fiber in Diets fed to Weanling Pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 100 (Suppl. 3) 118–119. doi.org/10.1093/jas/skac247.228.

Data for the composition of wheat middlings from flour mills in the U.S. and for the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) have been published for wheat middlings from the U.S. However, it is not known if the data obtained from wheat middlings from the U.S. also are representative for wheat middlings in Europe. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that there are no differences in composition and SID of CP and AA between wheat middlings sourced from flour mills in Europe and in the U.S.

Field peas have been produced mainly for human consumption, but lastly, the industry has been included in diets fed to livestock due to its content of starch and protein. In diets for swine, only peas that are harvested at maturity are used. Almost 80% of P in non-oilseed legumes is bound to phytate, and pigs do not synthesize an adequate amount of endogenous phytate to liberate the P bound to phytate. Therefore, the digestibility of P in field peas is relatively low. Values for apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of P in field peas have been reported, but there are no comparative values for the ATTD and STTD of P among different varieties of field peas at different particle sizes. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that there are no differences in the ATTD and the STTD of P among different sources of field peas fed to young pigs and the second hypothesis was that there is a linear increase in the ATTD and STTD of P as the particle size of field peas increases.