Nutritional value of high protein ingredients fed to growing pigs in comparison to commonly used protein sources in swine diets.

Co-products such as distiller's dried grains with solubles (DDGS) from the ethanol industry are obtained through fermentation processes and removal of nonfermentable components; separation of soluble fiber and protein components can potentially increase their nutritional value in swine diets. With the development of new feed processing technologies, high protein DDGS with added yeast mass (GDDY) has been obtained by separating the protein fraction of DDGS. However, there is limited information on the nutritional value of these co-products for pigs. The first step in determining the suitability of novel co-product use in swine diets is to define the nutritional value. Therefore, the nutritional value of GDDY was determined by analyzing standardized ileal digestibility (SID) of amino acids (AA) and metabolizable energy (ME) in growing pigs compared with common protein and energy feeds used in growing pig diets. The results show that the AA profile and digestibility in GDDY products were not different from soybean meal (SBM) as is the case for lysine, the first limiting AA in pig diets. Similarly, ME concentration in GDDY does not differ from those in other energy sources. Therefore, GDDY could be an alternative source of protein and energy in swine diets, and the obtained data allow its inclusion in pig diets formulation.