Research Reports

Effect of inclusion of an enhanced torula yeast on growth performance, fecal score, and blood characteristics of weanling pigs

Digestibility experiments have been conducted to determine the nutritional value of an enhanced torula yeast derived from forestry by-products. Results of these experiments indicated that enhanced torula yeast has a greater digestibility of amino acids and P than fish meal, and a concentration of metabolizable energy that is not different from that in fish meal. Therefore, it is believed that the enhanced torula yeast can be included in diets for weanling pigs at the expense of fish meal and other animal protein sources. Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to determine the effects on growth performance, fecal score, and blood characteristics of including the enhanced torula yeast at the expense of fish meal and plasma protein in diets fed to weanling pigs.

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Phosphorus and energy digestibility of Fermex 200 (fermented soybean meal) fed to weanling pigs

Soybean meal (SBM) is one of the most important protein sources in swine diets. However, most P in SBM is bound to phytate, which increases inclusion of inorganic P in diets for pigs. Use of microbial phytase may hydrolyze phytate and subsequently improve P absorption. Fermex 200 (Purina Animal Nutrition, Shoreview, MN, USA) is a new source of fermented SBM that may serve as an alternative to other protein sources in diets fed to pigs. However, there are at this point no data for effects of adding phytase to diets containing Fermex 200 and no data for digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) concentrations of Fermex 200.

Therefore, 2 experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that inclusion of 1,000 phytase units (FTU)/kg of microbial phytase improves the standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of P in conventional SBM and Fermex 200. The second hypothesis was that the STTD of P, as well as concentrations of DE and ME in Fermex 200 are greater than in conventional SBM.

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Evaluation of adaptation times and indigestible markers in ileal digestibility studies for pigs

Values for digestibility of nutrients in diets or feed ingredients fed to pigs are determined by nutrient intake and nutrient excretion in feces or ileal digesta. Ileal nutrient digestibility is determined using an indigestible marker because complete quantitative collection of ileal digesta is usually not possible. As a consequence, analysis of marker concentration in digesta is critical for accurate calculation of digestibility coefficients. Therefore, a sufficient adaptation period before initiation of ileal digesta collection is also important to make sure that the concentration of the marker in digesta is constant. It is, however, not known if the adaptation period is different among different markers. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that adaptation is needed to have constant marker concentrations in ileal digesta from pigs. The second objective was to test the null-hypothesis that apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA digestibility and the basal endogenous losses of AA are constant regardless of the indigestible marker used.

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Effects of Fermex 200 (fermented soybean meal) on growth performance and amino acid digestibility by weanling pigs

Soybean meal (SBM) is one of the most important protein sources in swine diets. However, SBM has high concentrations of non-digestible oligosaccharides, mainly stachyose, raffinose, and verbascose, which may increase diarrhea incidence and reduce nursery growth performance. Fermex 200 (Purina Animal Nutrition, Shoreview, MN, USA) is a new source of fermented SBM that may serve as an alternative to other protein sources in diets fed to pigs. However, there are at this point no data for effects of Fermex 200 on growth performance and amino acid (AA) digestibility when fed to weanling pigs.

Therefore, 2 experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA in Fermex 200 are greater than in conventional SBM. The second hypothesis was that Fermex 200 supports growth of weanling pigs as well as other protein sources.

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Digestibility of phosphorus in enhanced torula yeast and fish meal fed to weanling pigs

An enhanced torula yeast was recently developed as a natural alternative protein source to fish meal and other animal proteins. This ingredient has a lower carbon footprint than other available yeast proteins because it is derived from forestry by-products. The enhanced torula yeast has an improved amino acid (AA) profile, a greater digestibility of AA than fish meal, and an energy value that is not different from that in fish meal. However, there are no data available about the digestibility values of P in this new ingredient. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the values for apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) and standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of P in enhanced torula yeast are not different from those in fish meal.

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Amino acid digestibility in plant based protein concentrates and in Peruvian super prime fish meal fed to weanling pigs

Anti-nutritional factors in soybean meal can result in a reduction in digestibility of amino acids. Therefore, the use of soybean meal is limited in diets for weanling pigs and fish meal and other animal protein sources are often used instead. However, technologically treated plant proteins or mixtures of proteins may also be used instead of animal proteins if the treatments employed have reduced or eliminated the anti-nutritional factors. An example of 2 new plant-based proteins are protein concentrate 56 (JPC 56) and Fish Meal Replacer Omega 3 (FMR Ω 3). Both proteins are produced by Joosten, (Ab Weert, The Netherlands), but there is no information about the digestibility of amino acids in these proteins. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids in JPC 56 and FMR Ω 3 are not different from AID and SID values in fish meal.

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Effects of copper hydroxychloride and distillers dried grains with solubles on intestinal microbial protein concentration and digestibility of energy, crude protein, and acid hydrolyzed ether extract by growing pigs

The requirement for Cu for normal metabolism by weanling pigs is 5 to 6 mg/kg, but it is common practice to include additional Cu in diets for pigs to enhance growth performance. Several modes of action for the improved growth performance have been proposed, and one proposed mode of action is the ability of Cu to alter microbial activity. The apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of acid hydrolyzed ether extract (AEE) is improved if Cu hydroxychloride is supplemented to high fiber diets. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that inclusion of 150 mg/kg of Cu from Cu hydroxychloride (IntelliBond CII; Micronutrients USA LLC; Indianapolis, IN) to diets fed to growing pigs improves apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and ATTD of AEE, and the AID of crude protein. The second objective was to test the hypothesis that supplementing diets with Cu hydroxychloride can reduce the concentration of microbial protein in the small intestine or in the large intestine by pigs fed a corn-soybean meal diet or a diet based on corn, soybean meal, and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS).

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Amino acid and energy digestibility of an enhanced torula yeast and fish meal fed to weanling pigs

Yeast may be used instead of fish meal or other animal protein sources in diets for weanling pigs and there are several yeast proteins available. A newly developed enhanced torula yeast is derived from forestry by-products, and therefore, has a lower carbon-footprint compared with other yeast products. This enhanced torula yeast has an improved amino acid (AA) profile compared with traditional fermentation products, but at this time no data for the nutritional value of enhanced torula yeast fed to weanling pigs have been published. Therefore, 2 experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that the AA and energy values of enhanced torula yeast is not different from that of fish meal. In Exp. 1, the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of AA were determined, whereas Exp. 2 was designed to determine the concentration of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) in both enhanced torula yeast and fish meal.

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Excessive heat treatment of distillers dried grains with solubles reduces not only amino acid digestibility but also concentrations of metabolizable energy when fed to growing pigs

Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is a co-product of ethanol production that is often used in diets fed to pigs because of a relatively high concentration of amino acids (AA), energy, and digestible phosphorus. However, during the cooking and drying steps, the high temperature and concentration of moisture makes DDGS susceptible to the Maillard reactions, resulting in formation of sugar-amino acid complexes. Maillard reaction products result in reduced standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA), with Lys being the most sensitive AA. However, there is limited information about how heating affects the concentration of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME). Therefore, the objective of these experiments were to test the hypothesis that both the degree of heating and the time that heat is applied will affect the concentration of DE and ME and the SID of AA in DDGS fed to growing pigs.

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Effect of decreasing protein levels in diets fed to weanling pigs on growth performance, fecal score, and carcass characteristics

Diarrhea is one of the main problems for pigs during the post-weaning period. Traditionally, antibiotic growth promoters have been used to control post-weaning diarrhea, but consumers are increasingly concerned about this practice and there is therefore an interest in feeding diets that contain no antibiotics. However, feeding pigs without antibiotic growth promoters requires alternative strategies to control post-weaning diarrhea, but feeding low protein diets may be one way to reduce the incidence of post-weaning diarrhea. However, there is a lack of knowledge about consequences of reducing the protein level in diets fed to weanling pigs.

Feeding low protein diets to pigs results in increased net energy in the diet, reduced water intake by pigs, and reduced nitrogen excretion. This will result in reduced volume of manure and also reduced concentrations of ammonium in manure. However, if formulation of low protein diets results in feeding diets with concentrations of indispensable AA that are below the requirements, deposition of protein in pigs may be greater and deposition of fat may be increased compared with pigs fed a diet containing higher level of protein. However, it is not known if feeding a diet low in protein to weanling pigs also results in changes in carcass characteristics of market pigs.

Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that feeding a low-protein diet to pigs during the post-weaning period will result in reduced diarrhea during this period, but no effects on growth performance from wean to finish and no changes in carcass composition of pigs when they reach market weight.

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Pork products have digestible indispensable amino acid scores that are greater than 100, but processing does not always increase amino acid scores

Pork is the most widely consumed animal meat in the world accounting for approximately 40% of the total global meat intake. Pork almost always undergoes some degree of processing prior to consumption. Consequently, thermal processing induces modification to the 3-dimentional structure of proteins, which may lead to increased digestibility of amino acids (AA).

Protein quality is evaluated in human foods by the digestible indispensable amino acid score (DIAAS) methodology, which can be described as the digestibility of individual dietary indispensable AA (IAA) compared with the same IAA in 1 of the 3 reference protein patterns established by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Values for DIAAS of bovine meat cooked by various techniques have been determined, yet to our knowledge, there are no reported DIAAS values for pork products and the IAA digestibility of pork after processing has not been reported.

Therefore, the objective for the present work was to determine DIAAS values for pork products, and to test the hypothesis that processing may increase protein quality.

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Excessive heat treatment of double-low rapeseed meal reduces not only amino acid digestibility but also concentrations of metabolizable energy when fed to growing pigs

Double-low rapeseed meal (RSM) is currently used as a protein ingredient in animal diets. Heat treatment of RSM at varying processing conditions removes the residual hexane and efficiently reduces the glucosinolate content. However, variations in heat processing temperatures and duration of heat treatment may result in Maillard reactions, resulting in the formation of sugar-amino acid complexes. Maillard reaction products result in reduced standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA), with Lys being the most sensitive AA. However, there is limited information about how heating affects the concentration of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME). Therefore, the objective of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that both the degree of heating and the time that heat is applied will affect the concentration of DE and ME and the SID of AA in double-low RSM fed to growing pigs.

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Crystalline amino acids in diets used to determine the standardized ileal digestibility of amino acids in feed ingredients fed to pigs do not influence calculated values for amino acid digestibility

Protein and amino acids quality in feed ingredient is most correctly evaluated by determining the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of crude protein (CP) and amino acids. Experiments to determine the SID of CP and amino acids in feed ingredients often utilize semi-synthetic diets that contain the test ingredient as the sole source of CP and amino acids. Therefore, the CP and amino acid supply from experimental diets do not always meet the requirement for standardized ileal digestible amino acids by pigs and, therefore, pig growth is often limited in these experiments.

Crystalline amino acids are believed to be rapidly absorbed and 100% digestible. Addition of crystalline amino acids to diets during the adaptation or collection phase is, therefore, believed not to influence values for SID of amino acids in the test feed ingredient, but this has not been experimentally verified. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that addition of crystalline amino acids to diets during the adaptation or collection periods of digestibility studies will not influence calculated values for SID of CP and amino acids in corn and soybean meal. 

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Influence of the concentration of dietary digestible calcium on growth performance, bone ash, and abundance of genes involved in intestinal absorption of calcium in pigs from 11 to 25 kg fed diets with different concentrations of digestible phosphorus

Requirements for P for growing pigs are expressed as the requirement for standardized total tract digestible (STTD) P, whereas requirements for Ca are usually expressed as requirements for total Ca. It is, however, recognized that diets for pigs are most accurately formulated based on a STTD Ca:STTD P ratio, and recent work has generated values for STTD of Ca in most Ca containing feed ingredients, which makes it possible to formulate diets based on STTD Ca.

Recent data from the University of Illinois have indicated that if STTD P is at the requirement, a ratio between STTD Ca and STTD P that is less than 1.35:1, 1.25:1, and 1.10:1 maximizes growth performance of pigs from 25 to 50 kg, 50 to 85 kg, and 100 to 130 kg, respectively. However, the STTD Ca:STTD P ratio needed to maximize bone ash is greater than the ratio needed to maximize growth performance. An attempt to estimate the requirement for STTD Ca by pigs from 11 to 25 kg was also made, but due to a reduction in ADG and G:F as dietary Ca increased, an optimal STTD Ca:STTD P ratio could not be estimated.

Calcium may be absorbed by transcellular or paracellular transport. Transcellular transport is the primary route if dietary Ca is low, but if dietary Ca is adequate or high, Ca is mainly absorbed using the paracellular route via the tight junctions. However, there are limited data demonstrating effects of dietary Ca concentration on abundance of genes related to transcellular and paracellular transport of Ca in the small intestine of pigs.

Therefore, the objectives of this experiment were to test the hypotheses that a STTD Ca:STTD P ratio less than 1.40:1 maximizes growth performance of pigs from 11 to 25 kg and that increasing dietary Ca downregulates abundance of genes related to transcellular absorption of Ca and tight junction proteins in the small intestine.

 

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Nutritional value of high-lysine sorghum, red sorghum, white sorghum, and yellow dent corn fed to growing pigs

Sorghum is used as an alternative to corn due to its lower cost and wide availability. However, conventional sorghum contains high concentration of tannin and phytate, which act as antinutritional factors. Use of microbial phytase may hydrolyze phytate and subsequently improve P absorption. High-lysine sorghum is a new variety of sorghum which may be comparable to other cereal grains and may serve as alternative to corn for pigs. However, there are at this point no data for effects of adding phytase to diets containing sorghum and no data to demonstrate the nutritional value of high-lysine sorghum.

Therefore, 2 experiments were conducted to test the hypothesis that inclusion of 500 phytase units (FTU)/kg of microbial phytase improves the standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of P in sorghum varieties. The second hypothesis was that the STTD of P, as well as concentrations of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) in high-lysine sorghum is not different from that of corn and other sources of sorghum.

 

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Effects of dietary leucine concentration on branched-chain amino acid metabolism in growing pigs

Leucine, Val, and Ile are categorized as the branched-chain AA (BCAA) because of the structural similarity of their side chains. All 3 BCAA share the enzymes that are involved in the first 2 steps of their catabolic pathway. The first step is a transamination step catalyzed by BCAA transaminase (BCAT) and producing branched-chain α-keto acids (BCKA). The second step is an irreversible degradation step catalyzed by branched-chain α-keto acid dehydrogenase (BCKDH). In the second step, Leu has been considered a key regulator as its BCKA metabolite (α-keto isocaproate) stimulates activation of the BCKDH complex in the liver. When excess Leu in diets is offered to pigs, degradation of all 3 BCAA may increase because of increased activity of BCAT and BCKDH. Leucine and Trp are both categorized as large neutral AA, and they share a common uptake pathway across the blood-brain barrier. Therefore, it is possible that excessive Leu may result in reduced Trp uptake into the brain due to competition for transporters, resulting in reduced serotonin synthesis.

 

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Basal endogenous loss, standardized total tract digestibility, and retention of calcium in gestating sows changes during gestation, but microbial phytase reduces basal endogenous loss of calcium by gestating sows

Standardized total tract digestibility (STTD) of Ca has been determined for most Ca containing ingredients fed to growing pigs, but the basal endogenous loss of Ca is greater and the STTD of Ca in sows in mid-gestation are less than in growing pigs. As a consequence, if diets for gestating sows are formulated using STTD values determined in growing pigs, the provisions of digestible Ca may be less than anticipated.

The efficacy of phytase to release Ca and P is believed to be influenced by the physiological state of pigs with phytase fed to sows in mid-gestation releasing less Ca and P compared with growing pigs or sows in late-gestation. However, it is not known if values for STTD of Ca or retention of Ca and P that are measured in one period of gestation are representative of the entire gestation period.

Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that the STTD of Ca from calcium carbonate and the response to microbial phytase on STTD of Ca and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of P in corn-based diets fed to gestating sows are constant throughout the gestating period for sows. The second objective was to test the hypothesis that retention of Ca and P does not change during gestation.

 

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Effects of two direct fed microbials on ileal digestibility of amino acids and total tract digestibility of crude protein and gross energy in diets fed to growing pigs

Direct fed microbials (DFM) are defined as live microorganisms that offer a health benefit for the host when administered in appropriate and regular quantities. Bacillus-based DFM are aerobic, spore-forming bacteria that may enhance the host animal’s immune response and improve growth performance in weanling pigs. Bacillus spp. also produce extracellular enzymes that may enhance digestibility and absorption of nutrients.

An experiment was, therefore, conducted to test the hypothesis that two DFM containing Bacillus strains (provided by Chr. Hansen A/S, Horsholm, Denmark) improve the apparent ileal digestibility (AID) of AA, CP, and GE, the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of CP and GE, and hindgut digestibility of CP and GE when fed to growing pigs.

 

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Comparative digestibility and retention rate of calcium and phosphorus in low- and high-phytate diets fed to gestating sows and growing pigs

Digestibility of Ca and P is most correctly determined as standardized total tract digestibility (STTD). Data for the STTD of P in most feed ingredients have been published, and the STTD of Ca has also been determined in many feed ingredients. However, in practical diet formulation, values for STTD of Ca and P obtained in growing pigs are also applied to sows although there is a lack of comparative data between growing pigs and sows.

Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that no differences exist between gestating sows and growing pigs for basal endogenous losses, STTD, and retention of Ca and P.

 

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Digestibility of amino acids, fiber, energy, and concentrations of digestible and metabolizable energy in conventional and extruded yellow dent corn, wheat, and sorghum fed to growing pigs

Extrusion of cereal grains may be used to improve nutrient digestibility in cereal grains because addition of heat and pressure in combination with addition of moisture during the extrusion may gelatinize the starch, which results in an increase in starch digestibility. It is also possible that AA and energy digestibility are increased by the extrusion, but data to verify this hypothesis have not been published. Therefore, the objective of these experiments was to test the hypothesis that the ileal digestibility of AA and starch and the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of ADF, NDF, and GE as well as the concentrations of DE and ME in corn, wheat, and sorghum are increased by extrusion.

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