Effects of feeding diets containing increasing content of corn distillers dried grains with solubles to grower-finisher pigs on growth performance, carcass composition, and pork fat quality1

Abstract

Crossbred pigs (n = 512) with an average initial BW of 22.1 +/- 0.54 kg were used to evaluate growth performance, carcass characteristics, and pork fat quality of grower-finisher pigs fed corn-soybean meal diets containing increasing content of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS). One of 4 dietary treatments was randomly assigned to each pen within sex. Dietary treatment and sex were the main factors in a 3-phase feeding program (BW = 22 to 53 kg, 53 to 85 kg, and 85 to 115 kg). Dietary treatments consisted of a corn-soybean meal control, or a corn-soybean meal diet containing 10, 20, or 30% DDGS. Overall, increasing the dietary DDGS content had no effect on ADG (P = 0.74), but ADFI was linearly reduced and G:F was linearly increased (P < 0.01). Dressing percentage, LM marbling and firmness, and belly firmness were linearly reduced (P < 0.01), but percentage of fat-free lean was linearly increased (P < 0.05) with increasing dietary DDGS. Subjective LM color score (P = 0.65), drip loss (P = 0.37), and ultimate pH of LM (P = 0.21) were not influenced by dietary DDGS. Japanese color scores for backfat (P = 0.41) and belly fat (P = 0.85) were similar among dietary treatments (P = 0.41). Feeding an increasing content of DDGS linearly increased (P < 0.05) PUFA concentration, particularly linoleic acid (C18:2), in belly fat, backfat, and LM intramuscular fat, but the increase in LM intramuscular fat was smaller in magnitude (P < 0.05) than in backfat and belly fat. Pigs fed an increasing content of DDGS had a linear increase (P < 0.05) in the iodine value of backfat, belly fat, and LM intramuscular fat of 58.4 to 72.4, 61.5 to 72.3, and 54.8 to 57.7, respectively. Oxidation of LM intramuscular fat measured on d 0, 14, 21, and 28 of storage was not affected by dietary treatment. Taste tests for LM showed no effects of diet on flavor, off-flavor (P = 0.36), tenderness (P = 0.66), juiciness (P = 0.58), and overall acceptability (P = 0.52) scores. Similarly, bacon flavor (P = 0.88), off-flavor, crispiness, and overall liking scores were not affected by increasing dietary DDGS, but bacon fattiness (P < 0.01) and tenderness (P < 0.05) scores were linearly reduced. These results showed no negative effects on growth performance or dressing percentage when growing-finishing pigs were fed diets containing up to 30% DDGS, but fat quality may not meet the standards of all pork processors when feeding diets containing more than 20% DDGS.

Effects of conjugated linoleic acid or betaine on the growth performance and fatty acid composition in backfat and belly fat of finishing pigs fed dried distillers grains with solubles

“…Feeding DDGS had no effect (P > 0.05) on growth performance compared with the control in finishing pigs. This observation agreed with the findings of Xu et al (2010), who concluded that feeding diets containing 300 g DDGS/kg to growerfinisher pigs had no effect on growth performance. Similar to our results, DeDecker et al (2005) and Widmer et al (2007) reported that the inclusion of DDGS in diets fed to growingfinishing pigs had no effect on growth performance.…”

“…In the present study, the pigs fed the diets containing DDGS increased the percentage of C18:2 and PUFA, but the C16:0 and SFA decreased in both the backfat and belly fat. Similarly, Dahlen et al (2011), Benz et al (2010 and Xu et al (2010) observed changes in the fatty acid profiles of pigs fed increased dietary DDGS, Total PUFA = ((C18:2) + (C18:3) + (C18:3) + (C20:2) + (C20:4)). Means within a row with different superscripts differ (P < 0.05).…”

“…The dressing percentage and HCW were reduced (P < 0.05) by the addition of DDGS to the diets compared with the control. The dressing percentage has been shown decreased in some previous experiments (Whitney et al, 2006;Xu et al, 2010) as the concentration of DDGS in the diet. However, Widmer et al (2008) and Yoon et al (2010) did not observe any differences in the dressing percentage between the control group and DDGS diets.…”

“…Yoon et al (2010) reported no effect on the backfat depth in pigs fed diets containing DDGS. However, Xu et al (2010) reported that the backfat thickness of pigs fed corn DDGS was reduced.…”

“…The iodine value (IV) of the carcass fat was increased due to the increased unsaturated and decreased saturated fatty acid (SFA) concentration in the fat of pigs fed DDGS (Dahlen et al, 2011). In addition, the previous research indicated that an inclusion rate of DDGS up to 30% in grower-finisher diets has no negative effects on growth performance and dressing percentage, but affected fatty acid composition by changing C18:2 content and IVs of pork fat (Xu et al, 2010).…”