Skip to main content
ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Agroecosystems Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #414514

Research Project: Physiological, Microbiological, and Nutritional Mechanisms to Maintain Animal Productivity in the Absence of Antibiotics

Location: Agroecosystems Management Research

Title: Amino acid and energy digestibility of conventional corn dried distillers grains with solubles, high protein distillers dried grains, and corn fermented protein, and impacts on turkey poult growth performance and ...

Author
item VERBEEK, ZOLE - Iowa State University
item DELEON, CLAUDIA - Iowa State University
item Kerr, Brian
item SHURSON, GERALD - University Of Minnesota
item NOLL, SALLY - University Of Minnesota
item KOLTES, DAWN - Iowa State University

Submitted to: Poultry Science
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/5/2024
Publication Date: 8/8/2024
Citation: Verbeek, Z.K., Deleon, C., Kerr, B.J., Shurson, G.C., Noll, S.L., Koltes, D.A. 2024. Amino acid and energy digestibility of conventional corn dried distillers grains with solubles, high protein distillers dried grains, and corn fermented protein, and impacts on turkey poult growth performance and intestinal characteristics. Poultry Science. 103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2024.104082.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psj.2024.104082

Interpretive Summary: Co-products from the corn dry-milling industry can be a valuable feed ingredient for poultry production. There is, however, limited data showing the digestibility of amino acids and energy of these products in young turkeys and on dietary inclusion levels that can be fed to young turkeys without affecting growth performance. Experiments were conducted evaluating two different classes of corn milling co-products with data showing that distillers dried grains with and without solubles have a moderately high content of digestible amino acid and energy when fed to young turkeys; that that these feedstuffs can be fed to young turkeys at moderate levels in the diet without affecting growth performance. Data from this experiment is important for nutritionists at universities, feed companies, and turkey production facilities for the determination of the digestible energy and amino acid value of commonly used corn milling co-products for use in feed formulations, and provides a basis from which to assess their economic value.

Technical Abstract: Energy and amino acids (AA) are the most expensive nutritional components of poultry diets. Distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) is the primary co-product produced by the dry grind bioethanol industry, although new technologies are being implemented to produce high protein distillers dried grains (HP-DDG) and corn fermented protein (CFP), but data on their nutritive value in poultry are lacking. Two experiments (EXP) were conducted to determine the energy and AA digestibility of DDGS, HP-DDG, and CFP in poults in addition to a feeding trial to evaluate increasing dietary levels of HP-DDG and CFP on growth performance and intestinal characteristics. In EXP 1, six different DDGS sources were evaluated using poults to determine their nitrogen-corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn) concentrations, and cecectomized roosters were used to determine their standardized ileal AA digestibility (SID-AA) coefficients. In EXP 2, AMEn and SID-AA for HP-DDG and CFP were determined in young poults, and a feeding trial was conducted to evaluate growth performance and intestinal morphology and permeability of poults fed diets containing 7.5 and 15% HP-DDG or CFP from 1 to 32 d of age. In EXP 1, the AMEn concentration among the DDGS samples ranged from 2,530 to 3,573 kcal/kg DM but was not different (P = 0.57) among the samples, with an average SID-AA coefficient for LYS of 66.6%. In EXP 2, different (P = 0.001) AMEn concentrations for HP-DDG and CFP were observed (3,114 and 3,760 kcal/kg DM, respectively), with the SID-AA coefficients for LYS being 66.55 and 77.00% for HP-DDG and CFP, respectively. Including HP-DDG or CFP into the diet at 7.5 and 15% had no effect (P > 0.05) on growth, feed intake, or feed conversion. Neither co-product nor its inclusion rate affected intestinal morphology and permeability (P > 0.05). Overall, DDGS, HP-DDG, and CFP are excellent sources of AMEn and digestible AA, with dietary inclusion rates of up to 15% of HP-DDG or CFP having no impact on growth or intestinal health.