ARF01 - Improving and Sustaining the Value of Co-Product from Dry Mill Ethanol Production Through the Development of New Markets

| Alternative Renewable Fuels - Project Summaries 2004 |

Researcher:

Dr. Phil McEwen, Ridgetown College, University of Guelph

Objectives:

1. To determine the effects of feeding DDGS at 10 and 20 percent of the rations' dry matter based on pig growth rate, feed intake and efficiency.
   
2. To determine economic benefits and drawback of using the DDGS from the Chatham plant in pig growing and finishing diets.
   
3. To determine if there are significant differences in performance with DDGS from the Chatham plant versus those tested in previous studies.

Expected Benefits:

1. The use of DDGS in swine feeds should reduce pig production costs and increase net returns in the Ontario pork industry.

Summary of Research Results:

Dried Distillers Grains and Solubles (DDGS) is a primary co-product of ethanol production from dry milling. It has been successfully fed to ruminant animals for a number of years. However a substantial increase in ethanol production is expected in the next five years from Ontario and the United States. Therefore new markets will be needed to successfully market the anticipated increased volume of DDGS. In the United States, approximately 11 percent of the DDGS produced is incorporated into swine diets. In contrast, very little is utilized by the swine industry in Ontario. Therefore, research at Ridgetown College - University of Guelph, using Chatham DDGS, was undertaken to investigate the suitability of this protein and energy source for swine diets in Ontario.

Ninety-six pigs were (33.2 kg average weight) randomly assigned to one of the three diets which contained either 0, 10 or 20 percent DDGS. They were fed by pen (six pigs per pen) and marketed after achieving an average 110 kg body weight. Growth rate, feed intake and carcass measurements were routinely recorded for the later analysis.

Days to market, daily gain, feed intake, efficiency (feed/gain) and cost of gain estimates were similar for each DDGS inclusion rate. Hot carcass weights, dressing percentage, lean yield, loin depth and backfat thickness were also comparable. The trial demonstrated that DDGS can be a cost effective feed ingredient when priced competitively with corn grain and soybean meal.