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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Agroecosystems Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #329209
Title: Lipid digestibility and energy content of distillers corn oil in swine and poultry

Author
item Kerr, Brian
item DOZIER, WILLIAM - Auburn University
item SHURSON, GERALD - University Of Minnesota

Submitted to: Journal of Animal Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/5/2016
Publication Date: 8/1/2016
Citation: Kerr, B.J., Dozier, W., Shurson, G. 2016. Lipid digestibility and energy content of distillers corn oil in swine and poultry. Journal of Animal Science. 94:2900-2908.

Interpretive Summary: More than 1.2 million metric tons of distillers corn oil (DCO) was produced in 2015. Distillers corn oil is used as a feedstock by the biodiesel industry and as an energy source by the animal feed industry. The digestibility and caloric value of refined, deodorized, bleached corn oil have been documented in swine, but no lipid digestibility or energy evaluation of DCO has been conducted in either poultry or pigs. The current studies were conducted to evaluate the metabolizable energy content of 3 DCO samples varying in free fatty acid content, a refined corn oil, and an industrially-hydrolyzed high free fatty acid-DCO in young pig and growing poultry. Data from this experiments provides emperical data on the metabolizable energy levels of different DCO samples and inticates that DCO is a good source of energy for both poultry and pigs, but that a DCO product with high free fatty acids reduces its value as an energy source in poultry, but not in young pigs. This information is important for nutritionists at universities, feed companies, and poultry and pig production facilities for the determination of the energy value of DCO for use in feed formulations, and provides a basis from which to assess its economic value.

Technical Abstract: Two experiments were conducted to determine the DE and ME, and apparent total tract digestibility of ether extract of 3 distillers corn oil (DCO; 4.9, 12.8, or 13.9% FFA), compared with a sample of refined corn oil (CO, 0.04% FFA), and an industrially-hydrolyzed high FFA DCO (93.8% FFA) in young pigs and growing poultry. In Exp. 1, 54 barrows (initial age = 28-d) were fed a common diet for 7-d, and then fed their allotted dietary treatment (either 100% basal or 1 of 5 test diets consisting of 90% basal plus 10% test lipid) for the next 7-d in group pens (9 pigs/pen). For the next 10-d, pigs were moved to individual metabolism crates for continued diet and crate adaptation, and to a twice-daily feeding regimen. Pigs remained on their respective diets for a 4-d total fecal and urine collection period. For Exp. 2, 567 male poultry were obtained from a commercial hatchery (1-d of age) and reared in grower battery cages that contained 9 chicks per cage. Poultry were fed a common corn-soybean meal starter diet from placement until the beginning of the trial (19-d of age). Birds were then randomly assigned to 1 of 6 dietary treatments (94% basal diet plus 6% dextrose or 94% basal plus 6% test lipid substituted for dextrose).on d 19 and were allowed an 8-d dietary acclimation period followed by a 48-h energy balance assay. In Exp. 1, the DCO sample with 12.8% FFA contained the lowest (P < 0.05) DE (8,036 kcal/kg) content compared with the 0.04% refined CO sample and the 4.9%, or 93.8% FFA DCO samples (8,814, 8,828, and 8,921 kcal/kg, respectively), with the DCO source containing 13.9% FFA having intermediate DE (8,465 kcal/kg) content. The ME content of these lipid sources also differed among treatments (P < 0.01), following similar trends as for their DE values, with no differences noted for ME as a percentage of DE (P > 0.35) content among the lipids evaluated. In Exp. 2, lipids containing 0.04, 4.9, 12.8, and 13.9% FFA had similar AMEn, values (8,072, 7,936, 8,036, and 7,694 respectively), except for the industrially-hydrolyzed DCO sample containing 93.8% FFA, which contained 6,276 kcal/kg (P < 0.01). Using published prediction equations, the predicted DE of these lipids for swine was 3.5% greater than the values determined in Exp. 1 for all lipid sources, except for the DCO sample containing 93.8% FFA, which was underestimated. Likewise, the predicted AMEn of these lipids for poultry was 7.4% greater than the determined AMEn (Exp. 2) for all lipid sources.