Ibagon, Jimena A., Su A. Lee, C. Martin Nyachoti, and Hans H. Stein. 2024. Influence of particle size and origin of field peas on apparent ileal digestibility of starch and amino acids and standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids when fed to growing pigs. Translational Animal Science, 2024, 8, txae008. doi.org/10.1093/tas/txae008.

Field peas (Pisum sativum L.) are an annual season grain legume crop and are cultivated in areas that are too cold for the cultivation of soybeans. Market opportunities for field peas have increased in recent years, and the cost of cultivation is less for peas than for soybeans. The concentration of starch in field peas is less, but crude protein and amino acids are greater than in cereal grains. Therefore, in addition to providing amino acids, field peas also provide energy to swine diets, which is important because energy is the most expensive component in diets. As a consequence, it is important to determine the energy value of field peas. Agronomic practices, growing location, and differences among varieties may impact the nutritional properties of field peas, including energy digestibility. It was also observed that in-vitro energy digestibility of field peas was increased by reducing the particle size. However, there is no information on the effects of reducing particle size on concentrations of digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME), or net energy (NE) in field peas fed to group-housed pigs. Likewise, the digestibility of energy in field peas grown in the U.S. has not been compared with the digestibility of energy of field peas grown in Canada. Therefore, the objective of this research was to test the hypothesis that the particle size of field peas and the location where field peas were grown may affect the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (GE) and concentration of NE in field peas fed to growing pigs.  

Field peas (Pisum sativum L.) have been cultivated for centuries for human consumption, due to the high nutritional quality of pea protein. However, during the last years, increasing demand for field peas for livestock feeding has developed a market in Canada, Europe, and the U.S. Therefore, as is the case with some feed ingredients, differences in soil, varieties, agronomic practices, and growing method may change the nutritional characteristics of the peas as well as the digestibility of nutrients. Besides that, differences in the particle size of field peas may change the digestibility of nutrients. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of crude protein (CP) and amino acids (AA) in field peas is affected by the particle size of the field peas and the region where the field peas were grown.

Market opportunities for field peas (Pisum sativum L.) have rapidly increased for livestock feed and human food, due of the high nutritional quality of pea protein. However, as is the case with some feed ingredients, differences in soil, varieties, agronomic practices and growing method may change the nutritional characteristics of the peas as well as digestibility of nutrients. In addition, it is possible that differences in the particle size of field peas change the digestibility of energy and nutrients as has been reported for other ingredients. However, information about the effects of particle size of peas on digestibility of starch and amino acids (AA) are limited. Additionally, there is limited research to compare the digestibility of AA among field peas produced in different regions of the U.S. and Canada. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of crude protein and starch, and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA in field peas may be affected by the particle size of the field peas and the region where the field peas were grown.

Petersen, G. I., Y. Liu, and H. H. Stein. 2014. Coefficient of standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids in corn, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, high-protein distillers dried grains, and field peas fed to weanling pigs (Short communication). Anim. Feed Sci. Technol. 188:145-149. Link to full text (.pdf)

Newman, D. J., E. K. Harris, A. N. Lepper, E. P. Berg, and H. H. Stein. 2011. Effects of pea chips on pig performance, carcass quality and composition, and palatability of pork. J. Anim. Sci. 89:3132-3139. 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)

Stein, H. H., and D. N. Peters. 2008. Effects of including field peas in diets fed to weanling pigs. J. Anim. Sci. 86(E-Suppl. 2):448 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)

Everts, A., H. H. Stein, D. Peters, C. Pedersen, K. Sweeter, D. Wulf, and R. Maddock. 2005. Feeding field peas to market pigs had minimal effects on carcass composition, meat quality or cooked pork palatability. Pages 12-13 in Proc. 51^st Intl. Cong. Meat Sci. Technol., Baltimore, Maryland, USA, August 7-12, 2005 (Abstr.) Link to abstract (.pdf)