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Impact of feeding diets containing reduced-oil distillers dried grains with solubles on growth performance and pork fat quality of growing-finishing pigs

Read the full report: Impact of feeding diets containing reduced-oil distillers dried grains with solubles on growth performance and pork fat quality of growing-finishing pigs

About:

Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) have become a common ingredient used in growing-finishing swine diets in the U.S. pork industry. In general, use of this alternative ingredient at relatively high (40 percent) dietary inclusion rates has resulted in substantial reductions in feed cost with little, if any, effects on growth performance.  However, because of the relatively high oil content (10 to 11 percent) in DDGS, it has caused significant challenges in meeting acceptable pork fat quality standards. Currently, U.S. ethanol plants are extracting about 30 percent of the corn oil before producing DDGS, which results in reduced-oil DDGS (RO-DDGS). Feed diets containing high oil DDGS may have negative impacts on pork fat quality and may decrease carcass yield. No studies had been conducted to determine the magnitude of improvement in carcass fat firmness by feeding RO-DDGS.

Also, wheat middlings have become a popular alternative feedstuff in grower-finished swine diets due to competitive prices and potential positive impact on pork fat quality. When included with corn-soy diets containing RO-DDGs, may improve pork fat quality.

Conclusions:

Reduced oil concentration in DDGS has minimal, if any, effect on growth performance and carcass com The reduced oil concentration in DDGS generally improves pork fat quality when high levels of DDGS are added to growing-finishing diets, but the magnitude of this improvement is not proportional to the change in oil content among DDGS sources.

Outcomes:

This research will inform pork producers of feed diet options regarding RO-DDGS and wheat middlings. This research may also impact ethanol producers and the wheat flour milling industry.

Partners: 

Minnesota Pork, Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council