Acosta, J. P., and H. H. Stein. 2024. What impact does a Stimbiotic have on digestibility when fed to weanling pigs. National Hog Farmer. On-line edition. May 30, 2024. Link to full text.

Acosta, Jessica P., and Hans H. Stein. 2023. Xylanase or a stimbiotic increased growth performance and total tract digestibility of nutrients in diets for weanling pigs, but feeding sows xylanase in lactation did not influence pig growth performance after weaning. XXXVIII Curso de especializacion FEDNA. Pag 327. Link to abstract.

High protein corn protein (HPCP) is a corn co-product derived from the ethanol industry that contains between 40 and 50% crude protein, and therefore, may be used in diets for pigs as a source of amino acids (AA). However, such diets will contain more than twice as much Leu as recommended and there is a negative relationship between dietary Leu and brain synthesis of serotonin, which results in reduced feed intake of pigs fed diets containing excess Leu. There is also a reduced protein synthesis because of increased Val and Ile metabolism due to excess dietary Leu. As a consequence, pigs often have reduced growth performance if fed diets with high concentrations of HPCP. However, it may be possible to counteract the negative effects of the high Leu concentrations in corn co-products by adding crystalline sources of Trp, Val, and Ile to the diets and it may, therefore, be possible that HPCP can be used in diets without influencing growth performance or intestinal health of weanling pigs. Therefore, the hypothesis that HPCP may be used as the primary source of AA in diets for weanling pigs if diets are fortified with crystalline AA was tested. 

Oliveira, M. S., and H. H. Stein. 2022. Direct fed microbials increase energy and nutrient digestibility. National Hog Farmer, On-line edition, Sep. 24, 2022. Link to full text.

Rundle, C., V. Artuso-Ponte, and H. H. Stein. 2022. Isoquinoline alkaloids impact intestinal health and function of weanling pigs fed diets formulated below amino acid requirements. 15th International Symposium on Digestive Physiology of Pigs. Animal - Science Proceedings 13(Issue 2): 176. Link to Abstract.

Corn coproducts produced from the fuel ethanol or the wet milling industries may be used in diets for pigs. Different technologies are used to develop high protein corn co-products, but in addition to providing amino acids to the diets, high protein corn co-products also provide energy to the diets. The energy concentrations in corn protein may depend on the concentrations of fat, carbohydrates, and protein in sources of corn protein. Newly developed corn proteins contain 40 to 50% crude protein. There are, however, limited data on how differences in the chemical composition of different sources of corn protein influence the concentrations of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) when fed to weanling pigs. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the null hypothesis that there is no difference in the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (GE) and concentrations of DE and ME among 3 sources of corn protein when fed to weanling pigs.

The limited capacity for weanling pigs to secret HCl in the stomach may be exacerbated by inclusion of ingredients with high acid binding capacity such as limestone and monocalcium phosphate. As a consequence, reducing the amount of these 2 ingredients in diets for weanling pigs may contribute to a stable low pH for proper pepsin activity and increased action of microbial phytase. Inclusion of high doses of phytase that results in increased phytate degradation and increased release of Ca, P, and inositol may also be beneficial to newly weaned pigs. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that lowering dietary Ca and P reduces gastric pH and diarrhea of weanling pigs, but microbial phytase may overcome negative effects of low Ca and P on growth performance and bone ash.

Rundle, C. M., Y. Dersjant-Li, B. Hillen, M. S. F. Oliveira, and H. H. Stein. 2021. Buttiauxella Phytase Improves Growth Performance of Weanling Pigs Fed Corn, Soybean Meal, and Canola Meal Based Diets. J. Anim. Sci. 99(Suppl. 1): 49–50. doi.org/10.1093/jas/skab054.084. (Abstr.) Link to Absctract.

Whey, which is a co-product from dairy processing plants that extract fat and protein from milk to make cheese has been used in diets fed to weanling pigs as a source of lactose. Whey powder does not contain much protein because the majority of the milk protein ends up in the cheese during processing. However, cheese co-products, which contain 40 to 50% crude protein may be used in the feeding of pigs but there is limited information about the nutritional value of cheese co-products fed to pigs. Therefore, it was the objective of this experiment to measure the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA) by weanling pigs in a cheese co-product and compare values to those obtained in fish meal and in a source of enzyme treated soybean meal (HP 300).