Effects of Corn Distillers Dried Grains With Soluble as a Partial Replacement for Soybean Meal Improve the Growth Performance and Apparent Total Tract Digestibility of Weaning Pigs

This study investigated the impact of corn distillers' dried grains with solubles (cDDGS) on growth performance, faecal score and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) in weaning pigs by replacing soybean meal (SBM) in the diet. Ninety-six (Duroc × [Landrace × Yorkshire]) weaning pigs with an average body weight (BW) of 6.37 ± 1.10 kg were randomly to 3 groups in a randomized complete design with 8 pens/group and 4 pigs/pen (2 barrows and 2 gilts). Three diets (cDDGS0, cDDGS2.5 and cDDGS5) were formulated using cDDGS to replace 0%, 2.5% and 5% of SBM in the diet. Results found that increasing cDDGS inclusion linearly increased (p < 0.05) the BW, average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI) and ATTD of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), and gross energy (GE) and linearly reduced (p < 0.05) faecal score. However, feed conversion ratio (FCR) had no significant difference among treatments. In conclusion, cDDGS improved the growth performance and ATTD and reduced faecal score in weaning pigs, and the appreciable benefits seen in the 5% cDDGS group.