Effect of distillers dried grains with solubles and a feed additive containing essential oils on performance of wean-to-finish pigs

Abstract

Two studies were conducted to evaluate the effect of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) and a feed additive containing essential oils on growth performance of wean-to-finish and nursery pigs. Feed disappearance and BW were recorded to calculate ADG, ADFI, and G:F ratio. One study was performed to test the effect of high levels of DDGS and high levels of DDGS plus essential oils on wean-to-finish pigs growth performance. High DDGS levels significantly decrease G:F ratio when compared to control overall. Pigs fed high DDGS + essential oils had a tendency to improve BW at d 42 of the study and G:F from d 0-42 compared to control. The same group of pigs fed high DDGS + essential oils had a significant improvement in overall G:F compared to those fed high DDGS. Upon completion of the study carcass data was collected from the pigs utilized in the study. There were no differences observed among dietary treatments live weight, HCW, percent yield and BF. However, there was a tendency for LD and percent lean to decrease in pigs fed high DDGS dietary treatment compared to those fed control. Additionally, pigs fed high DDGS + essential oils compared to pigs fed high DDGS tended to increase LD. Another study was conducted to evaluate the effect of essential oils on nursery pigs growth performance. There was no effect on nursery pigs growth performance from d 0-41. Similarly, no effect on growth performance was observed from d 14-41 when essential oils were added to nursery pigs diets in this study. In summary, high DDGS alone in wean-to-finish diets significantly decreased G:F, while there was tendency to decrease both LD and percent lean compared to control. The addition of essential oils to high DDGS containing diets significantly improved G:F and tended to improve loin depth in wean-to-finish pigs compared to high DDGS. High DDGS + essential oils tended to improve d 42 average weight and d 0-42 G:F vs control. However, in the study conducted looking at the effect of essential oils in standard nursery diets, no effects were observed.