Rice bran is the brown outer layer of brown rice, which is removed from brown rice to produce white polished rice for human consumption. Rice bran may be full fat, containing 14 to 25% fat, or defatted, which reduces the concentration of fat to less than 5%.

Rice bran has a high concentration of non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), primarily arabinoxylan and cellulose. NSPs decrease nutrient digestibility and thus limit the inclusion of rice bran in weanling pig diets. Recent data from our laboratory indicate that adding exogenous xylanase to diets containing full fat rice bran (FFRB) or defatted rice bran (DFRB) increases the concentrations of digestible and metabolizable energy. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of increased inclusion levels of FFRB or DFRB to diets without or with exogenous xylanase on growth performance.

Increasing the inclusion of dietary fiber in nursery pig diets may stimulate beneficial gut microbiota and reduce post-weaning diarrhea. However, the digestibility of nutrients and energy is decreased in high fiber diets. Nursery pigs fed diets high in fiber have been shown to have reduced ADFI and G:F.

Bacillus-based direct-fed microbials (DFM) secrete a large amount and a wide variety of fiber degrading enzymes. It is thought that feeding DFM may offset some of the negative effects of  a high fiber diet. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test the hypothesis that addition of a Bacillus-based DFM will increase fermentation of dietary fiber and improve growth performance when fed to nursery pigs.

Soybean meal is the main protein source used in diets for pigs in the United States, as well as most countries of the world, due to the high quality of the protein it provides. However, soybean meal also contains antinutritional factors that limit its use in weanling pig diets. Pigs do not secrete the enzyme needed for the hydrolysis of raffinose and stachyose, α-galactosidase, in the small intestine. Therefore, these oligosaccharides are not enzymatically digested, but are instead fermented in the small and large intestines. This results in decreased growth performance and increased incidence of diarrhea when fed to weanling pigs.

Oligosaccharides can be removed from soybean meal using an alcohol extraction process, creating soy protein concentrate. Soy protein concentrate has greater digestibility of most amino acids and greater concentrations of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) than soybean meal. A new source of soy protein concentrate called Nutrivance (Midwest Ag Enterprises Inc., Marshall, MN) has recently been introduced, which is produced using a process combining non-alcohol extraction and enzymatic treatment of soybean meal. The nutritional value of soy protein concentrate produced using this method has not been determined. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the concentrations of DE and ME in soy protein concentrate and to compare these values to DE and ME in soybean meal.

Soybean meal is a high quality source of protein in diets fed to pigs. However, soybean meal contains anti-nutritional factors such as trypsin inhibitors and oligosaccharides, which decrease nutrient availability and limit the amount of soybean meal that can be fed in weanling pig diets.

Soy protein concentrate is produced by processing soybean meal to remove some nonprotein components, including the soluble carbohydrates. This leaves soy protein concentrate with a greater concentration of crude protein and amino acids than soybean meal. The presence of oligosaccharides in soybean meal has been shown to reduce the tolerance of young pigs to conventional soybean meal, and therefore, animal proteins rather than soybean meal is often used in diets for young pigs. However, if the oligosaccharides and other antinutritional factors can be removed from soybean meal, it is possible to use soybean meal in diets for young pigs instead of animal proteins.

Typically, an alcohol extraction process has been used to remove soluble carbohydrates from soybean meal to create soy protein concentrate. However, a new source of soy protein concentrate called Nutrivance (Midwest Ag Enterprises Inc., Marshall, MN) has recently been introduced. Nutrivance is produced using a process combining non-alcohol extraction and enzymatic treatment of soybean meal. The nutritional value of soy protein concentrate produced using this method has not been determined. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the digestibility of amino acids in this new source of soy protein concentrate.

In poultry, the particle size of inorganic calcium sources has been shown to affect calcium retention and eggshell quality. However, little is known about the effect of particle size of inorganic calcium fed to pigs. Results of a previous experiment conducted in the Stein Monogastric Nutrition Lab indicated that calcium digestibility and retention were not affected by the particle size of supplemental calcium carbonate. A follow-up study was conducted to test the hypothesis that calcium carbonate particle does not affect growth performance by weanling pigs.

Soybeans grown in the northern United States are exposed to fewer growing days and hours of sunlight than soybeans grown elsewhere in the U.S. As a result, soybeans grown in the northern U.S. fix less nitrogen, and have a lower concentration of crude protein, than other U.S. soybeans. However, the concentrations of particular amino acids, particularly indispensable amino acids, are more important for the purposes of diet formulation than the concentration of crude protein. The concentration of amino acids in soybeans grown in different parts of the U.S. has not been determined.

The amount of amino acids in soybean meal that are available to the pig also depends on digestibility, but no research has been conducted to compare the digestibility of amino acids among soybean meal produced in different regions of the U.S. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to compare the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids and the concentration of SID amino acids in soybean meal produced in different regions within the United States and fed to growing pigs.

The nutritional value of soybean meal from different sources may vary due to differences in processing techniques and environmental conditions such as growing areas, soil type, and variety of soybeans. The Philippines import soybean for livestock feed from many different countries. However, the nutritional quality of soybean meal from these different origins has not been compared. It is important for producers formulating diets in the Philippines to know whether the same values can be used in formulations for all sources of imported soybean meal. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to determine the concentrations of apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn), and the standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids by broilers fed soybean meal from Argentina, Brazil, China, Thailand, and the United States.

Several co-products from rice processing can be used as animal feed. Brown rice is the whole rice grain that is left after the hull layer has been removed, leaving the germ, starchy endosperm, and bran. Rice bran is the outer brown layer of brown rice, which is removed to produce white rice. It is high in fiber, and also contains about 15% crude protein and 14 to 20% fat. Rice bran can be fed as full fat rice bran or defatted rice bran. Broken rice, or brewer's rice, consists of white rice grains that have been damaged in processing. It is high in starch and contains little fat, fiber, or protein (Table 1).

Non–starch polysaccharides (NSPs), primarily arabinoxylan and cellulose, comprise 20 to 25% of defatted rice bran. NSPs reduce nutrient absorption and energy digestibility. Addition of exogenous xylanase to wheat co-products, which also have high concentration of NSPs, may improve digestibility of energy, but there is limited information about the effects of adding exogenous xylanases to rice co-products. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to determine the effect on concentrations of digestible energy (DE) and metabolizable energy (ME) of adding exogenous xylanase to diets containing full fat rice bran (FFRB), defatted rice bran (DFRB), brown rice, or broken rice.

Particle size is an important consideration for some feed ingredients in pig diets. Reducing the particle size of cereal grains and soybean meal in diets fed to pigs improves digestibility of energy, amino acids, and other nutrients, because feed ground to smaller particle sizes has more surface area on which digestive enzymes can work.

The particle size of inorganic calcium sources has been shown to affect calcium retention in poultry. Particle sizes of 1.00 mm or greater are recommended to optimize calcium retention and eggshell quality in laying hens, but coarse particle sizes result in reduced calcium retention in broiler chicks.  However, little is known about the effect of particle size of calcium sources fed to pigs. Therefore, an experiment was conducted to test different particle sizes of calcium carbonate and determine which size optimizes calcium digestibility and retention by growing pigs.