Corn-Soybean Diet Beats DDGS in Grow-Finish Pig Study
Researchers from Kansas State University studied the effects of different withdrawal strategies for distillers' dried grains with solubles (DDGS) on grow-finish pigs. DDGS is a co-product of the ethanol industry, widely used in swine diets due to its nutritional value and low cost.
The study aimed to evaluate the impact of four different DDGS withdrawal strategies on growth performance and carcass characteristics. The treatments were: A) corn-soybean meal-based diet with no DDGS; B) 20% DDGS in phases 1-4, and no DDGS in phases 5-6; C) 20% DDGS in phases 1-3, and 10% DDGS in phases 4-6; D) 30% DDGS in phases 1-2, 20% DDGS in phases 3-4, and 5% DDGS in phases 5-6.
The results showed that pigs fed the corn-soybean meal-based diet had greater average daily gain (ADG) compared to those fed DDGS. However, no differences were observed for feed intake or feed efficiency.