Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles for Swine

Three experiments were conducted to determine the effects of feeding DDGS to growing-finishing pigs.  In the first experiment, 1,050 pigs weighing 104.9 lbs were fed diets containing 0 or 15% DDGS, or 0, 3 or 6% added fat.  The results indicated no interactions between DDGS and added fat; linear improvement (P<0.01) in ADG and F/G with increasing additions of fat; and no performance differences by including 15% DDGS in the diet.

In the second study, 1,038 pigs were fed diets containing 0, 10, 20, or 30% DDGS for 56-days.  Results showed a trend for reduced gain (P<0.10) and average daily feed intake (P<0.06) as the DDGS was increased in the diet.  Most of the reduction occurred in the pigs fed over 10% DDGS.

The third study was to evaluate the diet preference.  The pigs were provide a choice of four feeders containing either a (67.05% corn, 30.05% SBM, 0% DDGS); (59.0% corn, 28.4% SBM, 10% DDGS); (50.85% corn, 26.8% SBM, 20% DDGS); or a (42.75% corn, 25.2% SBM, 30% DDGS) feed.  They found a significant decrease (P<0.01) in average daily feed intake as DDGS were increased in the feed formulation.  The researchers indicated that the pigs preferred feeds without DDGS compared to feed containing DDGS.

The researchers summarized the three studies by stating that if a producer or feed mill can obtain a DDGS source from a single ethanol plant that has been shown not to affect feed intake, data from these trials indicate that up to 10-15% DDGS could be included in swine growing-finishing feeds.  Note-It is interesting that in the finishing feed that was used in the third experiment, 10% DDGS replaced 8.05% of the corn and 1.65% of the SBM in the feed.   The higher protein content of DDGS replaced some of the need for SBM, however, as can be seen the DDGS had a much greater impact on the corn need in the finishing ration.   In the diets containing DDGS, SBM still made up 28.4% of the ration and contributed greatly to meeting the feed’s amino acid specifications.

Linneen, S.K. and co-workers.  2006.  Effects of dried distillers grains with solubles on growing-finishing pig performance.  Kansas State University Swine Report.  Pages 103-110