Oil Extraction from Corn DDGS Increases Nutritional Variability

By Bruce Cochrane

Gowan's Feed Consulting says, with U.S. ethanol plants extracting increasing amounts of oil from corn dried distillers grains with solubles, it's becoming increasingly important for pork producers to be aware of the nutritional value of these products.

Corn dried distillers grains with solubles is a co-product of the ethanol industry and oil extracted corn DDGS is corn DDGS with part of the oil removed.

The nutritional value of these co-products has always been variable and the extraction of additional amounts of oil has added to that variability.

To better understand the energy content of reduced oil corn DDGS and its impact on grow-finish performance Gowan's Feed Consulting conducted a feeding trial involving 1050 pigs ranging in weight from 25 to 125 kilograms.

Dr. Malachy Young, the manager of nutrition research with Gowan's, says scientists fed diets which included 30 percent oil reduced corn DDGS with six different assumed energy levels and measured live animal performance and carcass performance.

Dr. Malachy Young-Gowan's Feed Consulting:

As we increased the assumed energy value of the trial, the feed intake increased and feed conversion efficiency got poorer.

The back fat thickness of the pigs was reduced as the assumed energy value increased.

We determined that the energy value of the reduced oil DDGS was between two and 2.3 megacals per kilogram which is lower than the assumed net energy value for reduced oil DDGS from the new NRC in 2012.

I think it's really important as more of the ethanol industry in the U.S. and in Canada does further extraction of DDGS we better have a better understanding of the product we are getting to make sure we're getting good value for what we're purchasing.
That's extremely important.

Dr. Young notes the reduced oil levels in the oil extracted corn DDGS will result in lower net energy contents than the traditional higher oil DDGS but the reduced oil DDGS will have a less negative impact on carcass quality which is a positive.

Source: Farmscape