Growth performance, carcass composition, and pork fat quality of growing-finishing pigs fed distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) with variable oil and energy content, and prediction of metabolizable and net energy

Abstract

Corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is often an economical source of energy in U.S. swine diets. However, DDGS sources are highly variable in energy and nutrient content and can reduce pork fat quality. Results from this study demonstrated that reduced oil concentration of DDGS does not affect growth and carcass responses of growing-finishing pigs when the metabolizable energy (ME) content is accurately predicted to be similar among sources, and reduced oil content improves pork fat quality. In addition, we evaluated and identified the most precise and accurate equations for predicting ME and net energy (NE) content of DDGS to manage variability among sources, showed that diets should be formulated on the NE basis to optimize caloric efficiency, and provided evidence that the NE content of feedstuffs should be estimated dynamically based on the physiological age of pigs.