Sorghum is a cereal grain that can serve as an energy source in broiler diets when it is competitively priced for feed formulation. The objective of this study was to evaluate U.S. sorghum particle size (mean geometric diameter, dgw) effects on growth performance, gizzard weight, and pH in broilers from 4-49 d of age. A floor pen study was conducted with dietary treatments consisting of a corn-based (C; 800 µm) control diet and sorghum-based (S) diets with varying sorghum dgw (400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 µm). Body weight gain (BWG), feed intake (FI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) adjusted for mortality were determined. On d 49, two birds of average body weight were selected from each pen for determination of gizzard pH and weight. Overall (d 4-49) birds fed sorghum-based diets had increased (P < 0.05) BWG and FI compared to those fed the corn-based diets, resulting in no difference in FCR (P > 0.05). Increasing sorghum particle size tended to increase FI (linear, P = 0.059) and BWG (quadratic, P = 0.056) of broilers, with the majority of the improvements in BWG occurring when sorghum particle size was ground to 1,200 µm. Increasing sorghum dgw up to 1000 µm increased relative gizzard weight (quadratic, P < 0.01). In conclusion, broilers fed the U.S. sorghum-based diets had increased BWG and FI compared to those fed the corn-based diets with no evidence of difference in FCR. Targeting a coarser particle size in the 1,000 to 1,200 µm range appeared favorable under these conditions for growth performance and gizzard development.

Carbon (C) is widely distributed in nature and forms more compounds than all other elements combined. However, when more C is released into the atmosphere as CO2 and CH4 than can be reabsorbed by plants the global ecosystem becomes imbalanced. Although pigs emit less CO2 and CH4 than ruminants, accurate accounting of the C mass balance and emissions in swine production systems is needed for developing feeding strategies to improve C use efficiency (CUE) and to accurately estimate the carbon footprint of pork supply chains. Improvement in CUE minimizes C losses into the environment, optimizes natural resource use, enhances food security, and improves the economic and environmental sustainability of pork production. Thermal combustion analysis is the most common method for determining total C concentrations in a wide variety of matrices. Analytical results of the C concentration in 80 feed ingredients were highly variable (0.02 to 77% C) within and among feedstuff classifications. There was a strong positive association between fecal C and gross energy (GE) excretion (r = 0.998; P < 0.001) and between urinary C and GE excretion (r = 0.934; P < 0.001), with C excretion corresponding to a daily loss of 10.55 kcal GE/g of C excreted in feces and a loss of 11.91 kcal GE/g of C excreted in urine. On a mass-balance basis, about 14% of dietary C intake is excreted in feces, 2% is excreted in urine, and 25% retained in the whole body as protein and fat. Depending on the method and assumptions used, exhaled C (i.e., CO2 and CH4) represents the greatest loss of C, representing 50% to 55% of dietary C intake. These results indicate that dietary CUE in growing-finishing pigs is relatively poor (about 25% of C intake) and may be further reduced in pigs subjected to heat stress, immune challenges, and other metabolic disruptions that occur under commercial production conditions.

Reduced feed intake is a hallmark following weaning, enteric diseases, such as Escherichia coli, and numerous environmental conditions, such as heat stress and has been shown to cause intestinal barrier dysfunction. Currently, several different markers and assays are utilized to evaluate intestinal barrier function, and these methods have not been thoroughly validated. These restrictions may present a potential model to validate and compare multiple in vivo, ex vivo, and tissue markers of intestinal integrity. Forty-eight barrows (9.7 kg initial body weight) were fed for 7 d at 100%, 75%, 50%, or 25% of expected ad libitum feed intake. Colon tissues were harvested for examination of intestinal function, including ex vivo tissue transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), tissue fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FD4) transport, colonic morphology, and gene expression. Data were analyzed as an ANOVA in addition to pre-planned contrasts in which 25% and 50% feed intakes were combined in comparison to 75% and 100% feed intakes. There were no statistical differences between treatments in TEER or FD4 transport due to level of feed intake. However, there was a significant decrease in crypt depth in the colon of pigs fed at 25% and 50% compared to 75% and 100% (11%; P < 0.05). Gene expression of CLDN4 tended to decrease at 25% and 75% feeding levels. Gene expression of TLR2 was significantly increased at 25% and 50% compared to 75% and 100% feeding levels (P < 0.05), and lysozyme (LYZ) tended to be increased at 25% and 50% compared to 75% and 100% (P < 0.10). Twenty-one other genes associated with nutrient transport, immune function, and epithelial barrier function were not found to be different between feeding groups. Overall, there were minimal changes in several markers of intestinal function in the colon of restricted-fed nursery pigs.

Reducing dietary crude protein (CP) in nursery pig diets is a strategy to decrease post-weaning diarrhea (PWD), optimize feed costs, and reduce nitrogen excretion. One way by which high CP (HCP) diets increase PWD involve potentially cytotoxic proteolytic fermentation metabolites produced in the hindgut from unabsorbed proteins. Increasing dietary fiber fermentability with carbohydrase inclusion may mitigate this modality by shifting microbial fermentation towards carbohydrate substrate. To evaluate these interactions, a 3 × 2 factorial design assessed pig performance, nitrogen retention, hindgut fermentation, and health outcomes using high- and low- CP diets with or without a non-starch polysaccharidase (NSPase; xylanase). A total of 792 newly weaned 17 to 22- d-old mixed sex pigs (6.2 ± 0.12 kg body weight [BW]) were randomly allotted to three CP diets with or without NSPase (n = 12 pens/treatment), fed in three phases (10, 11, and 21 d). The CP and Lys per diet and phase were: (1) 16% CP containing 1.20, 1.15, and 1.10% standardized ileal digestible (SID) Lys per phase (LCP1.2); (2) 17% CP containing 1.40, 1.35, and 1.30% SID Lys (LCP1.4); (3) 24% CP containing 1.40, 1.35, and 1.30% SID Lys (HCP1.4). On d 10, one barrow per pen (n = 12 pigs/treatment) was moved to metabolism crates and fed at ∼5% of their average BW for 7 d on phase 2 diets, after which total fecal, and urine output were collected over a 4-d period for nitrogen retention analysis. On d 21, pigs utilized for metabolism evaluation were euthanized to collect intestinal tissue and luminal contents. The highest overall average daily gain and feed efficiency were observed in pigs fed HCP1.4 (both P < 0.0001). During phase 1, a tendency for a diet × NSPase interaction on PWD incidence was observed (P = 0.063), as NSPase numerically decreased incidence in HCP1.4 pigs but increased it in LCP1.4 and LCP1.2 pigs; overall, HCP1.4 pigs had greater PWD incidence than LCP1.4 and LCP1.2 pigs (P < 0.045). Pigs fed HCP1.4 diets observed increased nitrogen excretion and retention (g/d) when compared pigs fed either LCP diet (both P < 0.001, respectively). Pigs fed HCP1.4 had the highest production of total volatile fatty acids (VFA, P = 0.027). Polyamines cadaverine and putrescine were unaffected by CP (P > 0.05), but NSPase tended to reduce cadaverine production in all pigs (P = 0.079). Herein, pigs fed HCP diets observed improved performance concurrently with increased nitrogen excretion and PWD incidence.

The relationship between lipid oxidation products (LOP) and pig performance is complicated by the dynamic process of lipid oxidation and the complex biochemical and physiological process of pig growth. Past experiments and reviews of scientific literature have revealed the shortcomings of common primary and secondary LOP parameters, such as peroxide value (PV), anisidine value (AnV), and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), in characterizing lipid oxidation and predicting pig growth performance. A review of 16 publications indicated that lipids rich in saturated fatty acids (e.g., lard, palm oil, and tallow) are less prone to oxidation resulting in no significant associations between their LOP and pig performance (average daily gain, ADG; average daily feed intake, ADFI; gain:feed, GF). In contrast, lipids rich in unsaturated fatty acids (e.g., canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil) can be readily oxidized to form LOP resulting in negative correlations between their LOP and pig performance. Using the dietary concentrations of PV and AnV in unsaturated lipids with pig performance predicted reductions of pig performance (using 100% for response of control animals) with moderate accuracy: ADG = 100.2 – (0.37 × PV) – (0.88 × AnV); P = 0.01, SD = 68, R2 = 0.72; ADFI = 99.6 – (0.28 × PV) – (0.52 × AnV); P = 0.01, SD = 47, R2 = 0.57; GF = 100.9 – (0.10 × PV) – (0.46 × AnV); P = 0.01, SD = 20, R2 = 0.69. Furthermore, the accuracy of lipidic aldehydes to predict the growth performance of pigs fed unsaturated lipids was examined using stepwise regression analysis, showing that 2-undecenal, 4-hydroxynonenal, 2,4-undecadienal, and pentanal were most predictive of the reduction in ADG (P = 0.01, SD = 68, R2 = 0.77); hexanal, 2-undecenal, 2,4-undecadienal, 2-heptenal, and 4-hydroxynonenal were most predictive of the reduction in ADFI (P = 0.01, SD = 43, R2 = 0.68); and 4-hydroxynonenal, 2-undecenal, 2,4-heptadienal, pentanal, hexanal, 2-decenal, and 2-octenal were most predictive of the reduction in GF (P = 0.01, SD = 13, R2 = 0.85). While the use of targeted aldehydes improved the accuracy of predicting growth performance reductions caused by the consumption of oxidized unsaturated lipids, the improvement in prediction accuracy of ADG and ADFI was minimal. In conclusion, LOP parameters, either a combination of PV and AnV measures or combinations of specific aldehydes, can reasonably estimate the negative impact of feeding oxidized lipids on pig performance.

Feeding pigs lipids containing high levels of lipid oxidation products (LOP) has been shown to reduce growth performance, but data is lacking on quantitative relationships between LOP and pig growth, feed intake, and feed efficiency. Four experiments (EXP) were conducted using soybean oil (SO) in EXP 1, 2, and 3, as well as SO, choice white grease and palm oil (PO) in EXP 4, to evaluate the impact of feeding diets containing different amounts of LOP on pig performance. Lipid peroxidation was carried out using variable heating temperatures and durations to generate lipids with a broad range of peroxide (PV, mEq) and anisidine value (AnV, unitless). Lipids were added to the diets at 10%, 10%, 8%, and 7.5% for EXP 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively, with dietary PV and AnV calculated using lipid peroxidation concentrations of PV and AnV times the dietary lipid inclusion rate. Within each experiment, pig performance (6.2 to 13.4 kg, EXP 1; 13.5 to 23.7 kg, EXP 2; 20.3 to 36.9 kg, EXP 3; 29.6 to 44.1 kg, EXP 4) was affected differently depending on dietary PV and AnV concentrations. Using the control-fed pigs within each experiment as a baseline of 100%, correlations of pooled relative pig performance data (dependent variables of ADG, ADFI, and GF) from EXP 1, 2, 3, and 4 with their respective dietary LOP values (independent variables of dietary PV and AnV due their ability to be measured commercially) resulted in significant (P ≤ 0.01) regression equations for relative ADG [ADG, % = 101.2 - [(0.321 × PV) + (1.019 × AnV)], R2 = 0.81], ADFI [ADFI, % = 100.8 - [(0.320 × PV) + (0.629 × AnV)], R2 = 0.68], and GF [GF, % = 101.3 - [(0.016 × PV) + (0.525 × AnV)], R2 = 0.70], albeit PV was not a significant regression coefficient in the GF model (P = 0.90). This data shows that the values of primary and secondary LOP (i.e., PV and AnV, respectively) could be effectively used in predicting the effect of feeding oxidized lipids on growth, feed intake, and feed efficiency in growing pigs.

Aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid) is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug which has been a widely used analgesic for pain relief as well as an anti-inflammatory medication. However, it also causes negative effects on the gastrointestinal (GI) tract including GI bleeding, peptic ulcers, and can also impact the small intestine. Enhanced liquid aspirin (ELA) contains a combination of a salicylate compound, glycerin, triacetate, and saccharin which is more stable than aspirin alone and may reduce negative effects on the GI tract, while still exerting positive effects on inflammatory processes. The objective of this pilot study was to evaluate oral ELA in healthy weaning pigs. Eight pigs per treatment were gavaged daily for 5 d with either saline controls (CON) or 2 mg/kg body weight ELA. After the 5-d dosing period, pigs were weighed and then euthanized for intestinal sample collection. ELA-administered pigs gained significantly more body weight relative to initial body weights compared to CON pigs (8% vs. 13.7%; P < 0.05). Additionally, there was the tendency for an increase of 24% in villus height in ELA pigs compared to CON (P = 0.06) and significant increases in relative protein expression of Claudins (CLDN) 3 and 7 (P < 0.05). Finally, several genes were altered in ELA-fed pigs compared to CON including stem cell markers and immune markers. All in all, this data showed that ELA was well tolerated in a pig model, showed a preliminary improvement in body weight, and had no observable negative impacts.

Reduced feed intake is a hallmark of many animal diseases and environmental conditions and has been shown to cause intestinal barrier dysfunction. As there are several markers and assays to evaluate intestinal barrier function, feed restriction may present a potential model to validate and compare multiple in vivo, ex vivo, and tissue markers of intestinal integrity. Forty-eight barrows (9.7 kg initial body weight) were fed for 7 d at feed intakes of 100%, 75%, 50%, or 25% of expected ad libitum feed intake. After which urine, and blood were taken for in vivo lactulose:mannitol analysis. Additional ileum samples were taken for examination of intestinal function including ex vivo tissue transepithelial electrical resistance (TEER), tissue fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FD4) transport, as well as small intestinal villus height and crypt depth, and gene expression. Data were analyzed as an ANOVA as well as a contrast where 25% and 50% were combined, as were 75% and 100%. As expected, observed feed intake followed a linear pattern, as did body weight changes. Pigs fed ad libitum (100%) gained 3.8 kg whereas pigs fed at 75% restriction gained 2.5 kg, pigs fed at 50% restriction gained 1.2 kg and pigs fed at 25% lost 0.37 kg (P < 0.05). Results showed tissue changes in morphology in duodenum, jejunum and ileum at 25% and 50% feed restriction (P < 0.05). Specifically, pigs fed at 75% and 100% feed levels had on average a 26% greater villus height compared to pigs fed at 50% and 25% (P < 0.01). There were no significant differences in TEER, however there was also a tendency for a contrast difference for FD4 as well as for a significant increase in urinary lactulose:mannitol at 25% compared to 75% and 100% (P < 0.10). Similarly, pro-inflammatory gene marker, IL17A was increased at 25% feeding level compared to 75% and 100% (P < 0.05). Taken together, these data show that feed restriction may be a good model to compare validation methods for intestinal permeability and function, but that length of feed restriction may have reduced larger impacts on intestinal function observed in other studies.

Providing amino acids, energy, and minerals are costly dietary components in formulating diets for turkeys, with corn, soybean meal, and oils being of utmost interest due to their percent inclusion levels. In addition, the highest feed consumption occurs in the grower-finisher (GF) phase of production making diet formulation during this period of growth critically important. Reducing feed cost through reductions in expensive energy sources (e.g., fats) in a turkey diet while maintaining performance and carcass traits could greatly benefit turkey production profitability. The current study evaluated the effects of the addition of a commercial energy sparing feed additive (Enercore®, Biosen LLC) in a series of reducing energy diets. Dietary treatments included a commercial control diet (CON) and 3 experimental diets with different levels of reduced Kcal to equal a 50 Kcal/kg deficit (ESFA 1), 70 Kcal/kg deficit (ESFA 2), and 100 Kcal/kg deficit (ESFA 3) with the inclusion of 1 kg/tonne of Enercore. At placement, 1,800 male turkeys were evenly placed across dietary treatments (n = 8 per treatment) and provided their dietary treatment through 18 wk of age. Body weights and feed weights were taken every 5 wk and before loadout. At 17 wk of age, one tom per pen was weighed and euthanized to determine breast yield and deboned thigh yield. Body weights and mortality percent were similar across diets at the end of 18 wk of age (P > 0.140). Whereas, mortality-adjusted FCR was altered with dietary treatment with toms fed ESFA 2 having the lowest mortality-adjusted FCR (P < 0.001) compared to all other dietary treatments. For carcass measurements, live weights of birds sampled, breast yield, and deboned thigh yield were similar between treatments (P > 0.220). In conclusion, removal of 50 and 70 Kcal/kg of energy in turkey diets supplemented with an energy sparing feed additive did not significantly alter body weight or carcass yield but only the removal of 70 Kcal/kg with the ESFA, Enercore®, improved feed conversion.

Butyrate is a short-chain fatty acid that can be given as a dietary additive to support intestinal health and poultry performance. Providing butyrate in a protected form that reaches the hindgut could have different effects than an earlier-absorbed butyric acid salt. To compare these additives, 468 broiler chicks were housed 12 birds per pen, with 13 pens per dietary treatment. Birds were fed a three-phase feeding regimen for 42 d divided into three dietary treatments: a negative control diet, a diet containing 260 mg of unprotected sodium butyrate/kg diet, or a diet containing 260 mg/kg diet of a fat matric encapsulated calcium butyrate. Performance parameters (daily gain, daily feed, and gain to feed ratio) were obtained for the overall feeding study. On d 42, samples of cecal fluid were collected for pH and volatile fatty acid (VFA) analysis (n = 13 pooled samples/diet), jejunum and colon tissue for intestinal morphology evaluation (n = 6 birds/diet), cecum, cecal tonsil, crop, and spleen tissues for quantitative PCR evaluation (n = 8 birds/diet), and jejunum and colon for ex vivo assessment of intestinal integrity and barrier function (n = 13 birds/diet). There was no effect of dietary treatment on feed intake or feed efficiency (P > 0.10) with a tendency for gain to increase due to dietary butyrate, regardless of source (P = 0.07). There was no effect of dietary butyrate on cecal pH, propionate, butyrate, or total VFA (P > 0.10) with a tendency for butyrate, regardless of source, to reduce acetate concentrations (P = 0.07). There was no effect of dietary butyrate on intestinal morphology (P > 0.10) or barrier functions (P > 0.10) in the jejunum or colon. Diets containing the protected-calcium butyrate generally decreased gene expression of tight junction and inflammatory genes in the cecum and decreased inflammatory gene expression in the cecal tonsil and spleen. In general, dietary butyrate, regardless of source, exhibited little effect on performance or most physiological measures.

An experiment consisting of two groups of 60 pigs was conducted to determine interactive effects between fiber source, fat source, and week of fecal sampling on apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), ether extract (EE), gross energy (GE), and total dietary fiber (TDF) in 53- to 74-kg pigs. Diets were formulated based on corn-soybean meal (CSBM, 15.4% TDF) or a CSBM diet with 35% distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS, 20.6% TDF), 15% soybean hulls (SH, 23.0% TDF), or 30% sugar beet pulp (BP, 28.4% TDF), in combination with no added fat, 10% tallow (TL), or 10% soybean oil (SO). Feces were collected on d 7, 14, and 21 to determine ATTD of DM, EE, GE, and neutral detergent fiber (NDF). There were no significant week × diet × fat, week × diet, or week × fat interactions noted (P > 0.10) for any parameter measured; there was, however, a diet × fat interaction (P ≤ 0.01) and week effect (P ≤ 0.01) for each parameter measured. Adding 10% TL increased the ATTD of EE in pigs fed the CSBM- and BP-based diets more than in pigs fed DDGS- or SH-based diets with added TL. In contrast, adding 10% SO increased the ATTD of EE in pigs fed CSBM-, SH-, and BP-based diets more than in those fed the DDGS-based diet with added SO. Adding 10% TL increased ATTD of NDF in the pigs fed the CSBM- and SH-based diets to a greater degree compared to pigs fed the DDGS- or BP-based diets with added TL, while adding 10% SO increased ATTD of NDF in pigs fed the CSBM-, DDGS-, and SH-based diets to a greater degree compared to pigs fed the BP-based diet with added SO. The ATTD of GE was difficult to interpret and did not always correspond with the changes noted in the ATTD of EE and NDF. In general, GE digestibility was improved by supplementing TL to the low-fiber CSBM diet, had little effect when added to the insoluble fiber diets (i.e. DDGS or SH), but had a negative effect when supplemented to the BP-based diet. In contrast, ATTD of GE increased with SO inclusion in all diets, but to a greater extent in CSBM-, DDGS-, and SH-based diets compared to diets containing BP. Overall, the data indicated that fat digestibility is reduced more by feedstuffs with a high degree of insolubility (DDGS or SH) compared to a feedstuff with a high degree of solubility (BP). In addition, data from this experiment suggest that fat type interacts with fiber type and that the reduction in fat digestion is greater when a saturated fat is added to the diet compared to unsaturated fat sources.

The source of energy in turkey diets is one of the highest feed costs per unit to turkey producers. Reducing the cost by reducing energy concentration in a turkey diet while maintaining performance and health would economically benefit turkey producers. The reduction of energy may, however, impact immune competency, metabolism, and bone structure by diverting energy to sustain growth. This study evaluated the effects of the addition of a commercial energy sparing feed additive (ESFA) product. Dietary treatments included a control diet (CON) and 3 experimental diets with reduced calories to equal a 50 kcal/kg deficit (ESFA 1), 70 kcal/kg deficit (ESFA 2), and 100 kcal/kg deficit (ESFA 3) with the addition of (Enercore®, Biosen) at 1 kg/tonne. Toms were placed on experimental diets from placement through 18 wk of age. At 17 wks of age, one tom from each pen was weighed and euthanized to determine health indicator status which included bone ash from the right thigh bone, spleen weight to examine potential shifts in the immune system, plasma ketone body concentrations, liver weight and liver score, and small intestine morphology. Tom live weights (P = 0.937), liver score (P = 0.248), ketone body concentration (P = 0.997), small intestine morphology (P > 0.120) and bone ash (P = 0.156) were similar across dietary treatments. In contrast, relative spleen weight was altered by dietary treatment (P = 0.044) with ESFA 3 spleen yield significantly less than CON (P = 0.005). In conclusion, the removal of 50 and 70 kcal/kg of energy in turkey diets supplemented with an energy sparing feed additive did not significantly alter body weight or metabolic traits.

A subgroup of pigs from two experiments (EXP) was selected to evaluate the impact of pigs fed diets containing peroxidized soybean oil (SO) on plasma-based measures of oxidative stress and vitamin E. Pigs were fed diets containing SO that was either unprocessed (23 °C; peroxide value (PV) of 3 meq/kg and an anisidine value of 4) or thermally processed at 135 °C for 42 h (PV of 30 meq/kg and an anisidine value of 501). The corn-soybean meal-based diets contained either 10% SO (EXP 1) or 8% SO (EXP 2). Pigs were fed the experimental diets for 22 d (EXP 1, 13.5 to 24.0 kg, 2 pigs/pen) or 27 d (EXP 2, 21.3 to 37.5 kg, 1 pig/pen), each with 10 replications per dietary treatment. Pigs fed diets containing the peroxidized SO had reduced ADG, ADFI, and GF compared to pigs fed diets containing the unheated SO (P ≤ 0.01). Pigs fed diets containing peroxidized SO had increased plasma concentrations of F2-isoprostanes and reactive oxygen metabolites compared to pigs fed diets containing unheated SO (P ≤ 0.01). In contrast, plasma thiobarbituric acid reactive substances concentrations tended to decrease in pigs fed diets containing peroxidized SO compared to pigs fed diets containing unheated SO (P = 0.10). There was no apparent effect of pigs consuming diets containing peroxidized SO on plasma antioxidant adsorbent capacity or an oxidative stress index (P ≥ 0.19). Pigs fed diets containing peroxidized SO resulted in a reduction in plasma vitamin E compared to pigs fed diets containing unheated SO (P ≤ 0.01). Results indicate that adding SO that has been thermally processed thereby containing high concentrations of aldehydes resulted in inconsistent changes of markers of oxidative stress, but dramatically reduced plasma vitamin E concentrations.

Amino acids (AA) are an 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, 6 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 (SID) AA digestibility (SID-AA). 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 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 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 characteristics.

Abstract Isoacids are short, branched-chain volatile fatty acids produced by microbial degradation of branched-chain amino acids. While there is a lack of information on isoacids supplementation in monogastric animals, in ruminants, isoacids are growth factors for cellulolytic bacteria which leads to improved digestibility of fibrous ingredients. The objective was to determine if feeding isoacids to prepubertal gilts could improve digestibility of high fiber diets. Two groups of 45 prepubertal gilts (body weight = 139.10 ± 0.68 kg) were individually housed and allotted to 1 of 9 dietary treatments for a 28-d trial (n = 10 per treatment). Dietary treatments consisted of a 3 × 3 factorial arrangement with factors of diet type [corn-soybean meal (CSBM), CSBM with 40% inclusion of distiller’s dried grains with solubles (DDGS), or CSBM with 40% inclusion of sugar beet pulp (SBP)] and isoacids inclusion [no isoacid (NO), 0.50% inclusion of isobutyrate (IB), or 0.88% inclusion of an isoacid mixture (isobutyrate, 2-methylbutyrate, isovalerate; 1:1:1 ratio; MX). Isobutyrate inclusion was the same between IB and MX diets. Gilts were limit fed approximately 2.2 kg per day. Overall growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of energy and nitrogen (N), and fecal volatile fatty acids (VFA) profile (d 26) were determined. Average daily feed intake (ADFI) was reduced and gain:feed ratio (GF) was increased in gilts fed DDGS (2.14 ± 0.07 kg/d and 0.20 ± 0.02 kg/kg, respectively) or SBP (2.07 ± 0.07 kg/d and 0.19 ± 0.02 kg/kg, respectively) compared with gilts fed CSBM (2.30 ± 0.07 kg/d and 0.15 ± 0.02 kg/kg, respectively), regardless of isoacids inclusion (P < 0.05). Gilts fed DDGS-IB had increased energy (86.5 vs. 83.5 ± 0.42%) and N (84.7 vs. 81.3 ± 0.85%) ATTD compared with gilts fed DDGS-NO (P < 0.05). Gilts fed CSBM-MX had reduced energy (86.9 vs. 88.3 ± 0.50%) and N (75.4 vs. 78.7 ± 0.39%) ATTD compared with gilts fed CSBM-NO (P < 0.05). Moreover, gilts fed SBP-NO had increased energy (85.9 vs. 83.6 ± 0.44%) ATTD compared with the other groups and increased N (71.8 vs. 67.2 ± 0.51%) ATTD compared with SBP-IB (P < 0.05). Fecal content of isobutyrate was decreased in NO compared with the other groups (2.10 vs. 3.00 ± 0.31 mM/L), while fecal content of heptanoate was increased in MX compared with NO (0.06 vs. 0.03 ± 0.01 mM/L), regardless of diet type (P < 0.05). Gilts fed SBP-MX had increased fecal content of total VFA compared with gilts fed SBP-NO (108.90 vs. 67.60 ± 11.50 mM/L; P < 0.05). These results suggest that IB may positively impact the digestibility of diets with a high content of insoluble fiber.

Two trials were conducted to determine interactive effects between lipid source (palm oil, PO versus soybean oil, SO) and emulsifier addition (none versus glycerol monolaurate-GML) on apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (GE) in broilers and growth performance in poults. In trial 1, 0.05 % GML addition had no impact on the ATTD of GE of SO but improved the ATTD of PO from 77.11 % to 88.21 % (interaction, P=0.03). Without GML addition, PO had a lower ATTD of GE (77.11 %) compared to SO (96.48 %) resulting in an AME of 7,259 versus 9,092 kcal/kg for PO and SO, respectively. In trial 2, the addition of 0.10 % GML reduced ADFI in poults fed diets containing 5 % PO compared to poults fed 0 or 0.05 % GML, while the addition of either 0.05 or 0.10 % GML reduced ADFI in poults fed diets containing 5 % SO compared to poults fed no GML (P=0.01). There was a similar response with ADG (P=0.01) where the addition of either 0.05 or 0.10 % GML reduced ADG in poults fed diets containing SO compared to poults fed no GML, while the addition of GML was largely without effect in poults fed diets containing PO. There was no interaction between lipid source and emulsifier addition on feed efficiency (P>0.10). Poults fed diets containing PO had a poorer feed efficiency compared to birds fed diets containing SO (P=0.01). The main effect of emulsifier was inconsistent in that poults fed the diets containing 0.10 % GML had the greatest feed efficiency compared to poults fed the diets containing 0.05 % GML, with poults fed diets containing no emulsifier being intermediate (P=0.10). In conclusion, addition of GML improved the ATTD of GE for PO but had no effect on the ATTD of GE for SO. This improvement in energy digestibility, did not however, translate to an improvement in poult performance. Broilers and poults fed diets containing SO had a greater feed efficiency compared to birds fed diets containing PO.

Isoacids are branched ketoacids which when fed to ruminants have been shown to enhance the growth of fiber-digesting organisms. Ninety finishing gilts were individually fed dietary treatments consisting of diet type: corn-soybean meal (CSBM), a diet containing 40% distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS), or a diet containing 40% sugar beet pulp (SBP); in combination with either no feed additive (CNT), the addition of 0.50% isobutyrate (IB), or the addition of a 0.88% mix of isobutyrate, isovalerate, and 2-methylbutyrate (MX). Gilts consumed an average of 2.171 kg/d over the 28-d trial. On d 26, fresh fecal samples were collected for determination of apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of gross energy (GE) and nitrogen (N), determination of fecal volatile fatty acids (VFA), and evaluation of microbial ecology. There was no interaction between diet type and isoacid addition, and no main effect of isoacid or diet type on alpha or Shannon microbial diversity measures (P > 0.05). There was no interaction between isoacid addition and diet type, and no main effect of isoacid addition on microbial beta diversity (P > 0.05), but differences were observed in microbial beta diversity due to diet type (P <= 0.05). There was no interaction between diet type and isoacid addition observed in fecal VFA concentrations (P > 0.05), with only minor differences in fecal VFA concentrations noted due to isoacid addition (P <= 0.05). The interaction between diet type and isoacid addition on ATTD of dietary GE and N (P <= 0.01) was large because the addition of IB did not affect the ATTD of GE or N in pigs fed the CSBM diet, but increased ATTD of GE and N in pigs fed diets containing DDGS and decreased the ATTD of GE and N in pigs fed diets containing SBP. In contrast, adding a blend of isoacids (i.e., MX) reduced the ATTD of GE and N, regardless of diet type. There was no interaction between diet type and isoacid addition, and no effect of isoacid addition was observed on pig performance (P > 0.05). Diet type did not affect average daily gain (P > 0.05), but pigs fed diets containing DDGS or SBP consumed less feed (P = 0.01) and exhibited greater GF ratios compared to pigs fed the low-fiber CSBM diet (P <= 0.05). In conclusion, there was little to no effect of isoacid addition on microbial ecology, fecal VFA concentrations, ATTD of GE or N, or pig performance, but the improvement in ATTD of GE and N in pigs fed diets containing DDGS when IB was added warrants further investigation.

Energy is an expensive component of diets with lipids providing a concentrated energy source to meet these needs; in addition, supplementary lipids affect milling efficiency and diet palatability. Because of the increased use of lipids as feedstocks in renewable energy production, typical fats and oils are becoming more limited and costly to the livestock industry necessitating the need to source and understand the caloric values of alternative lipids. The experiments reported herein determined the caloric value of typical and non-typical fats when supplemented to growing broilers and compared these empirical values to values predicted by commonly used equations. Thirteen sources of lipids consisting of an animal-vegetable fat blend, poultry fat, three soybean oils, three distillers corn oils, palm oil, acidulated canola-soybean oil soapstock, acidulated palm oil-soybean oil soapstock, flaxseed oil, and canola oil were evaluated. Differences in the determined nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy (kcal/kg) were observed among the lipids tested (animal-vegetable fat blend, 7,671; poultry fat, 7,984; three soybean oils, 8,118, 7,535, and 8,767; three distillers corn oils, 8,205, 7,990, and 9,364; palm oil, 7,408; acidulated canola-soybean oil soapstock, 8,056;, acidulated palm oil-soybean oil soapstock, 7,685; flaxseed oil, 8,588; and canola oil, 7,854) and the use of a commonly used prediction equation did not adequately estimate the caloric value compared with the empirical values. Data presented also shows the difficulty of determining and predicting energy values of lipids when used at low inclusion levels.

Twenty-four gilts and barrows (n = 8/trt) were divided into three treatment groups: control (CON), 0.5 % Aronia melanocarpa juice powder (AM; LoBerry), and 1.0 % AM juice powder (HiBerry). Pigs were fed for 14 d and tissues were collected. No differences in performance were observed. Ileum IL-18 tended to be lower in LoBerry pigs, while colonic IFN-γ was increased in pigs fed either AM diet. There were several changes in ileal gene expression in pigs fed the LoBerry diet compared to pigs fed the CON diet, including BMI1, CLDN2, JAM2, and MYLK, which are largely related to barrier and stem cell function. In the colon, CLDN2, REG3G, SI, and SLC6A19 were increased in pigs fed the LoBerry diet. There were no differences found in the colonic microbiome due to diets. In conclusion, feeding AM juice powder may have a positive impact in young pigs, but may require longer feeding time to observe performance differences.