UI-UC researchers find pigs eating DDGS get same results as with corn-soy feed

In Illinois, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champagne tested pig diets containing 30 percent conventional DDGS (DDGS-CV), high-protein distillers dried grains (HP-DDG), or uncooked DDGS (DDGS-BPX), and compared them with a corn-soybean meal basal diet. They conducted one experiment using growing pigs and another experiment using finishing pigs to determine if the stage of growth of pigs affected their utilization of the different ingredients.

Results indicated that pigs fed DDGS-CV, HP-DDG, or DDGS-BPX had no differences in average daily gain, average daily feed intake, and gain to feed ratio compared with pigs fed the basal diet. This was true for both growing and finishing pigs.

With a few exceptions, there was no difference in retention of energy, protein, or lipids between pigs fed the test ingredients. Growing pigs fed the basal diet retained more protein than pigs fed DDGS-CV or HP-DDG. Finishing pigs fed DDGS-BPX had greater lipid gain than pigs fed DDGS-CV. Net energy in DDGS-CV was greater than in HP-DDG or DDGS-BPX if fed to finishing pigs, but that was not the case if fed to growing pigs.