Four experiments were conducted to evaluate effects of yeast-dried milk (YDM) product in creep and phase-1 nursery diets. In Exp. 1, 24 parity-4 litters were allotted to 3 dietary treatments (8 litters/treatment) including no creep (NC), control creep (CTL), and experimental creep (EC; 10% YDM). Creep diets were fed twice daily from d 7 after birth until weaning (23.6 ± 1.8 d). In Exp. 2, 108 weaned pigs were selected based on mean BW of pigs from the respective treatments in Exp. 1. For phase 1 (d 0 to 7 postweaning) of Exp. 2, NC and CTL pigs were fed the CTL diet and EC pigs continued to receive the EC diet. For phase 2 and 3 (d 7 to 28 postweaning) of Exp. 2, all pigs received a common diet containing antibiotics. Blood and fecal samples were collected on d 0, 7, 14, and 21 postweaning to evaluate serum IgA and fecal microbiota. In Exp. 1, pigs fed EC and CTL tended to have greater (P < 0.10) weaning BW compared with NC pigs. Pigs fed EC had greater (P < 0.05) ADFI compared with CTL pigs. In Exp. 2, pigs fed EC tended to have greater BW (P < 0.10) and greater ADG (P < 0.05) and ADFI (P < 0.01) compared with CTL and NC pigs (d 0 to 28). For serum IgA, EC and CTL pigs tended (P < 0.10) to have greater IgA compared with NC pigs. For microbial data, EC pigs had greater (P < 0.01) microbial diversity compared with CTL (d 7 postweaning). On d 7 and 21 postweaning, microbial similarity decreased (P < 0.01) in pigs fed EC compared with NC and CTL. Overall (d 0 to 14), lactobacilli gene copy numbers tended (P < 0.10) to be greater in EC (7.3 log10) compared with NC pigs (6.9 log10). In Exp. 3, 23 parity-1 litters were allotted to 3 dietary treatments as described for Exp. 1. In Exp. 4, 108 weaned pigs were selected based on mean BW of all pigs from Exp. 3 and dietary treatments were the same as described for Exp. 2 except no antibiotic was included in phase-2 diet. In Exp. 3, there were no treatment effects on litter ADFI, ADG, and serum IgA, but a tendency (P < 0.10) for lower Lactobacillus reuteri in the CTL (5.1 log10) compared with NC pigs (5.6 log10) was observed. Overall (d 0 to 21) in Exp. 4, pigs fed EC had greater ADG (P < 0.01) and G:F (P < 0.05) and tended to exhibit greater ADFI (P < 0.10) compared with the CTL. For microbial data, pigs fed CTL (4.8 log10) and EC (4.8 log10) had lower (P < 0.01) fecal Lactobacillus johnsonii compared with NC (5.2 log10). Microbial ecology and immune parameters are affected by YDM.

Four experiments were conducted to evaluate effects of yeast-dried milk (YDM) product in creep and phase-1 nursery diets. In Exp. 1, 24 parity-4 litters were allotted to 3 dietary treatments (8 litters/treatment) including no creep (NC), control creep (CTL), and experimental creep (EC; 10% YDM). Creep diets were fed twice daily from d 7 after birth until weaning (23.6 ± 1.8 d). In Exp. 2, 108 weaned pigs were selected based on mean BW of pigs from the respective treatments in Exp. 1. For phase 1 (d 0 to 7 postweaning) of Exp. 2, NC and CTL pigs were fed the CTL diet and EC pigs continued to receive the EC diet. For phase 2 and 3 (d 7 to 28 postweaning) of Exp. 2, all pigs received a common diet containing antibiotics. Blood and fecal samples were collected on d 0, 7, 14, and 21 postweaning to evaluate serum IgA and fecal microbiota. In Exp. 1, pigs fed EC and CTL tended to have greater (P < 0.10) weaning BW compared with NC pigs. Pigs fed EC had greater (P < 0.05) ADFI compared with CTL pigs. In Exp. 2, pigs fed EC tended to have greater BW (P < 0.10) and greater ADG (P < 0.05) and ADFI (P < 0.01) compared with CTL and NC pigs (d 0 to 28). For serum IgA, EC and CTL pigs tended (P < 0.10) to have greater IgA compared with NC pigs. For microbial data, EC pigs had greater (P < 0.01) microbial diversity compared with CTL (d 7 postweaning). On d 7 and 21 postweaning, microbial similarity decreased (P < 0.01) in pigs fed EC compared with NC and CTL. Overall (d 0 to 14), lactobacilli gene copy numbers tended (P < 0.10) to be greater in EC (7.3 log10) compared with NC pigs (6.9 log10). In Exp. 3, 23 parity-1 litters were allotted to 3 dietary treatments as described for Exp. 1. In Exp. 4, 108 weaned pigs were selected based on mean BW of all pigs from Exp. 3 and dietary treatments were the same as described for Exp. 2 except no antibiotic was included in phase-2 diet. In Exp. 3, there were no treatment effects on litter ADFI, ADG, and serum IgA, but a tendency (P < 0.10) for lower Lactobacillus reuteri in the CTL (5.1 log10) compared with NC pigs (5.6 log10) was observed. Overall (d 0 to 21) in Exp. 4, pigs fed EC had greater ADG (P < 0.01) and G:F (P < 0.05) and tended to exhibit greater ADFI (P < 0.10) compared with the CTL. For microbial data, pigs fed CTL (4.8 log10) and EC (4.8 log10) had lower (P < 0.01) fecal Lactobacillus johnsonii compared with NC (5.2 log10). Microbial ecology and immune parameters are affected by YDM.

combination of DDGS and phytase resulted in the greatest reduction of price per ton ($15) compared to the traditional diet without affecting animal performance. During the second and third phase feeding periods of the experiment (125 to 185 and 185 to 260 lb, respectively) there were no differences in ADG, ADFI, or G:F (P > 0.10). Numerical differences between treatments were small, which would indicate that phytase and DDGS inclusion in diets separately or together can reduce or eliminate the need of calcium phosphates during the last stages of production. There were no differences observed among the treatments during the three phases of the experiment or the growing-fi nishing period overall (90 to 260 lb) for the animal performance characteristics measured. The costs per ton of each dietary treatment indicates that the addition of DDGS and phytase separately or together can reduce feed cost based on August 27, 2008 prices. The greatest reduction in feed cost (up to $15/ ton) was observed when both DDGS and phytase were used together. It is important to note that DDGS inclusion in diets can also reduce the amount of other ingredients which also contribute to the reduction in feed cost. These results are in agreement with concurrent research conducted at other universities which have concluded that DDGS along with phytase inclusions in nursery diets can alleviate any need for supplementing diets with calcium-phosphates. The results of this experiment indicate that proper formulation of diets with phytase and DDGS can reduce or alleviate dependence on traditional phosphorus sources in swine grower-fi nisher diets. Conclusions Overall, animal performance did not differ when alternative methods of P supplementation were used in growing -fi nish pigs (90 to 260 lb). These results suggest that expensive sources of P can be omitted from diets in order to decrease feed costs without altering animal growth parameters. There was no interaction between lactose and DDGS, but lactose can be incorporated in nursery diet containing DDGS and maintain growth performance. 1 Summary A 4-week feeding experiment was conducted to evaluate effects of distill-ers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and lactose on growth performance of nursery pigs. Ninety-six pigs (age, 23 + 2 days; initial body weight, 14.15 + 0.11 lb) were randomly allotted into each of 16 pens by gender, ancestry, and weight (6 pigs/pen; 4 pens/treatment). In phase 1 (weeks 1 and 2), pigs were fed 1 of the 4 …

and ADFI at week 4 (P = 0.02). During phase 2 (week 3 to 4), greater ADG (P = 0.05) and ADFI (P = 0.004) were observed in pigs consuming a diet containing DDGS (Treatments B and D) compared to pigs that did not receive DDGS in phase 1 (Treatments A and C); however, G:F ratio was not affected by DDGS. There was a lactose effect on ADG in week 3 (P = 0.05) and a trend of lactose effect on ADG during phase 2 (P = 0.09); pigs fed lactose in phase 1 (Treatments C and D) had lower ADG compared to pigs that did not receive lactose in phase 1 (Treatments A and B). These observations reinforced the traditional lactose effects on improving pig growth performance during the early postwean-ing period. Also, these results indicate that lactose can be added to the DDGS-containing diets and maintain growth performance. For the overall experimental period (week 1 to 4), greater ADFI (P = 0.02) and ADG (P = 0.07) were observed in pigs fed DDGS (Treatments B and D) compared to pigs that did not receive DDGS in phase 1 (Treatments A and C); however, no effects of DDGS on G:F ratio. In addition, there were no lactose and lactose × DDGS effects on ADG, ADFI, and G:F overall. In summary, the following observations were made: 1) pigs receiving DDGS in phase 1 (Treatments B and D) had greater ADG and ADFI (P = 0.05 and 0.004, respectively) during phase 2 compared to non-DDGS fed pigs in phase 1 (Treatment A and C); 2) pigs receiving lactose in phase 1 (Treatments C and D) had greater ADG, G:F (P = 0.01), and ADFI (P = 0.07) during phase 1, but decreased ADG during phase 2 (P = 0.09) compared to pigs that did not receive lactose in phase 1 (Treatments A and B). Conclusions In conclusion, there was no interaction between DDGS and lactose on growth performance of nursery pigs in any phase of this experiment. How ever, the inclusion of lactose in diets containing DDGS did have positive effects on improving growth performance of nursery pigs. Additional research needs to be conducted to determine level of lactose that should be incorporated with DDGS in diets to maximize pig performance and health. Barrows fed ractopamine during the fi nishing phase require 0.76% total lysine in order to maximize growth performance. …

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate effects of corn distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) on growth performance and health status of weanling pigs. Experiment 1 evaluated effects of increasing concentrations of DDGS on growth performance and health of weanling pigs. Dietary treatments included 1) control (CTL), 2) 0% DDGS (0% DDGS in phase 2 and 30% DDGS in phase 3), 3) 5% DDGS (5% DDGS in phase 2 and 30% DDGS in phase 3), and 4) 30% DDGS (phases 2 and 3). Overall, pigs fed 30% DDGS during phases 2 and 3 had decreased (22.1 vs. 25.1 and 24.0 kg; P = 0.003) BW compared with CTL pigs and pigs that only received DDGS during phase 3. In addition, pigs fed 5 or 30% DDGS in phase 2 had decreased (422.7 or 390.0 vs. 468.2 g; P = 0.003) ADG compared with CTL pigs. However, pigs fed 0% DDGS during phase 2 had similar BW, ADG, and ADFI compared with CTL pigs. Experiment 2 was conducted to evaluate effects of DDGS, lactose, and their interaction on growth performance and health of weanling pigs. Dietary treatments included 1) CTL, 2) lactose (20%), 3) DDGS (15%), and 4) lactose + DDGS. Diets of interest were fed during phase 1 (d 0 to 14), and a common diet was fed during phase 2 (d 14 to 28). Pigs receiving DDGS in phase 1 had greater ADG (576.2 vs. 534.6 g; P = 0.01) and ADFI (814.9 vs. 751.6 g; P = 0.01) during phase 2 compared with non-DDGS-fed pigs. Pigs receiving lactose during phase 1 had greater ADG (214.7 vs. 177.2 g; P = 0.01) and G:F (741.0 vs. 660.3 g/kg; P = 0.01) and tended to have greater ADFI (289.3 vs. 267.6 g; P = 0.07) during phase 1 but decreased (537.7 vs. 573.1 g; P = 0.09) ADG during phase 2. Serum immunoglobulin analyses and fecal microbial profiling were conducted in both experiments as indicators of health status. No effects of dietary treatment were observed for serum immunoglobulin in either experiment. Fecal microbial profiling resulted in statistically significant effects of dietary treatment with respect to microbial similarity and diversity indices (Exp. 1) and lactic acid-producing bacteria (Exp. 2), where main effects of both lactose and DDGS were observed with respect to putative Lactobacillus reuteri (P < 0.05). Results from Exp. 1 indicate that decreased concentrations of DDGS early in the nursery phase may negatively affect growth performance; however, growth performance may be maintained when inclusion of high concentrations (30%) of DDGS is delayed until the late nursery period. Results from Exp. 2 indicate that lactose may be incorporated in nursery diets containing DDGS to help maintain growth performance, and DDGS and lactose may affect fecal microbial profiles.

percentage resulted from the inclusion of increasing dietary DDGS concentration (P < 0.01). Despite the lack of treatment effect (P = 0.29), total monounsaturated fatty acids mass percentage linearly decreased in response to increased dietary DDGS (P = 0.04). Total polyunsaturated fatty acid mass % increased linearly in response to increased concentrations of dietary DDGS (P < 0.01) The outer layer backfat mass percentage of myristic, palmitic, palmito-leic, oleic, and total monounsaturated fatty exhibited no response to treatment (P > 0.05). However, mass percentage of stearic linearly decreased with increasing DDGS inclusion in the diets (P = 0.01). Mass percentage of linoleic in the outer layer of backfat exhibited treatment response (P < 0.01) and linearly increased with increased dietary DDGS (P < 0.01). Despite the lack of treatment effect (P = 0.09), total saturated fatty acid mass percentage, linearly decreased with increased inclusion of dietary DDGS concentration (P = 0.01). In contrast total polyunsatu-rated fatty acids exhibited a positive linear response to inclusion of increasing dietary DDGS inclusion (P < 0.01). Evidence reported in the literature indicates that the inclusion of unsat-urated fatty acids in the diets of growing-fi nishing pigs results in a reduction in the content of saturated fatty acids in adipose tissue. The results of the present study support those fi ndings. The inclusion of DDGS in the diets of growing-fi nishing pigs increases the concentration of dietary unsaturated fatty acids and in consequence increases concentrations of unsaturated in the adipose tissue. Interestingly, iodine value results determined at the packing plant do not support the fatty acid results. The effects of DDGS inclusion on sensory characteristics of longissimus muscle of fi nishing pigs are provided in Table 6. The inclusion of increasing dietary concentration of DDGS had minimal effects on sensory characteristics evaluated in the present study. Dietary treatment allowed (P < 0.05) toughness, but this effect was not consistent with increasing dietary DDGS concentration. Conclusions These results suggest that the inclusion of increasing levels of DDGS in diets of fi nishing pigs from the UNL nutrition line did not affect carcass characteristics. Increasing dietary concentration of DDGS did not change ash or moisture concentration; however, fat concentration was reduced and protein concentration showed a tendency to increase. Dressing percentage, color, and sensory characteristics of the LM did not exhibit changes in response to the inclusion of dietary DDGS up to 15%. The results of this …

Lactose may affect the immune response mediated from the gut and interact with gastrointestinal microbiota; however no effects of milk-yeast on growth performance were detected. Summary An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary lactose alone or in combination with dried milk-yeast product on growth performance , gastrointestinal microbiota, and immune parameters in weanling pigs. Pigs fed lactose and lactose with milk-yeast tended (P = 0.07) to have greater BW compared to control pigs (19.56 and 19.60 vs. 18.55 lb) at the end of phase 1 (week 1 to 2); however, no differences in BW were observed during phase 2 (week 3 to 4), phase 3 (week 5), or overall (week 1 to 5). With respect to growth performance, pigs fed lactose and lactose plus milk-yeast had greater (P = 0.05) ADG, and tended (P = 0.07) to have greater ADFI compared to control pigs during phase 1. There were no differences observed for ADG or ADFI during phase 2, 3, or the overall experimental period. With respect to immune parameters, a main effect of treatment was observed for circulating immunoglobulin (Ig)A where control pigs had greater (P < 0.01) concentrations of IgA compared to pigs fed lactose with or without milk-yeast; however, no effects of dietary treatment were observed for circulating IgG or tumor necrosis factor alpha. Lastly, fecal microbiota of control pigs had a greater microbial diversity index (Shannon's , P = 0.03) compared to pigs fed lactose plus milk-yeast on day 0; however, no differences in microbial diversity indices were observed on days 7 or 14 among dietary treatments. In addition , a shift in microbial composition, limited to a small number of microbial groups, was observed on day 7 with lactose fed pigs having greater (P = 0.05) putative L. jonhsonii staining intensity compared to control pigs and pigs fed lactose plus milk-yeast. On day 14, L. reuteri tended (P = 0.15) to be enhanced , and L. delbrueckii was virtually eliminated (P = 0.04) by feeding lactose with or without milk-yeast. This research indicates that growth performance, immune parameters, and composition of the fecal microbiota may be affected by dietary inclusion of lactose alone or in combination with milk-yeast.

The gastrointestinal microbiota of neonatal pigs may be affected by dam parity. Summary Litter performance, progeny growth performance, and progeny health status may be affected by dam parity. The objective of the current experiment was to evaluate gastrointestinal microfl ora, as a measure of gut health, in progeny derived from fi rst parity (P1) compared to fourth parity (P4) dams. Fecal samples were collected from the progeny (n = 6 pigs/ litter) of P1 and P4 dams (n = 4 from each parity, P1 and P4) on days 1, 7, and 14 following parturition. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was utilized to characterize gastrointestinal microbial populations and to calculate similarity and diversity indices. The similarity index represents the percentage of the microbial population that is similar within a group (P1 vs. P4). Diversity indices (Shannon's and Simpson's) represent the differences of the bacterial species within the microbial population. A greater Shannon's index and reduced Simpson's index are indicative of greater diversity among microbial populations. At all time points (days 1, 7 and 14), the fecal micro-biota of progeny derived from P1 dams was more homogenous when compared to P4 progeny (P < 0.001). With respect to microbial diversity, P1 progeny tended (P = 0.07; Shannon's) to have greater microbial diversity compared to P4 progeny on day 1, and on day 7, the reduction in microbial diversity in P1 progeny reached that passive immunity may be affected by dam parity. More information is needed to understand how dam parity may affect progeny health status. Recently, considerable evidence accrued that the composition of the intestinal microbi-ota of an individual may be linked and used as indicators of gastrointestinal health status. Therefore, factors that may affect establishment of the pig's gastrointestinal microbiota are likely to affect animal performance and include host physiology, environmental exposure , and diet. Denaturing gradient gel electro-phoresis (DGGE) is a technique that is capable of discriminating among bacterial species and is a means by which patterns of change in microbial populations can be detected through space and time (Thompson et al., 2008). Increase in microbial diversity has been associated with increased ecosystem stability and resistance to pathogen invasion (Konstantinov et al., 2004). In addition, species diversity affects a number of processes in ecological communities, including productivity , stability, and susceptibility to invasive species (Hooper et al., 2005). Therefore, the objective of the current experiment was to evaluate fecal bacterial population …