Nutritional characteristics of distillers dried grains with solubles and their effects on performance and economic viability for pigs

The chemical and nutritional characteristics of the four distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) were determined for dry matter (DM), mineral matter (MM), crude protein (CP), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and gross energy analyzed (GEa), from which the values of gross energy (GE), digestible energy (DE), metabolizable energy (ME) and net energy (NE) were estimated. There were differences in the contents of EE, NDF, GEa, GE, DE, ME and NE between the lots. A total of 40 barrows with an initial weight of 72.69 ± 5.66 kg were assigned to a randomized block design, fed diets containing 0, 100, 200 and 300 g kg-1 DDGS for 28 days and were subjected to performance assessment. The inclusion of DDGS in the diets did not affect daily feed intake (DFI), daily weight gain (DWG) or feed conversion (FC) but linearly reduced the final weight. Based on the results of the performance and prices of ingredients in the local market, we calculated the costs of feed, revenue and gross operating profit (GOP). Inclusions of DDGS in pig diets reduced costs and revenues but did not affect GOP. DDGS presented chemical and nutritional variation between the lots. Levels of inclusion up to 300 g kg-1 DDGS do not affect finishing pig performance and profitability.