Quality DDGS could benefit Latin America's poultry diets

DDGS is not commonly used in Latin America, but where good quality sources are available, it could offer a valuable resource for poultry diet formulation.

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The high energy, protein and phosphorous content of DDGS make it an attractive partial substitute for some of the traditional ingredients in poultry feeds. | U.S. Grains Council
The high energy, protein and phosphorous content of DDGS make it an attractive partial substitute for some of the traditional ingredients in poultry feeds. | U.S. Grains Council

Dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) is one of the co-products of ethanol produced from starch in grains. Its use in poultry feed is feasible considering its digestible amino acid values and as long as its highly available phosphorous content is monitored.

Corn DDGS tends to be the best known, but DDGS from barley, wheat, sorghum and even sugar cane also exist. DDGS is a relatively little-known ingredient in poultry feed formulation in Latin America, with, perhaps, the exception of Mexico, but it could play a greater role in feeding the region’s poultry flocks.

Dr. Carlos Martínez, professor of poultry production and feeds and feeding at the Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, Mexico, notes that DDGS is a very interesting co-product, primarily because it comes from a good raw material – corn, but also because its original characteristics of corn are not lost during ethanol production, rather they are modified, taking on a new nutritional value, due to the removal or starch and the concentration of fat and protein.

In addition to high-oil DDGS, there are also DDGS that are low in oil.

“Fat is removed to make Saccharomycenes cervisiae yeasts work more efficiently,” explains Martínez.

Saccharomycenes strains and processing can vary in efficiency and this can result in different qualities of DDGS.

There are new companies using the latest technologies to produce DDGS, but there are still traditional plants, with old, conventional equipment.

“There are wide differences in quality, not because the process is poor to start with, but because some plants control it better than others,” he adds.

Over recent years, the composition of DDGS has changed, precisely because technology has improved. According to the U.S. Grains Council, more than 90% of ethanol plants use technology that partially extracts corn-oil before producing oil-reduced DDGS.

Expected quality

One of the great unknowns in purchasing DDGS is quality; nevertheless, the quality should be stated in the purchase contract. It is this quality issue that has prevented nutritionists from using more DDGS as an ingredient in poultry feed.

“We need to work only with those companies that ensure a uniform product,” Martínez says. He recommends finding companies that source high quality corn, have high quality processing and produce a product that that is not burnt or overprocessed.

Low-quality corn would be corn that has been poorly stored, has moisture problems or contains aflatoxins. Problems may also arise as a result of genetics, as ethanol producers prefer a grain that is high in starch but not in protein.

Use of antibiotics

Further issues may arise due to the presence of antibiotics. To ensure that S cerevisiae ferments successfully antibiotics are added to grains, preventing the development of other yeasts or bacteria that could change the fermentation process or produce metabolites or undesirable flavors or colors.

These antibiotics, Martínez  explains, leave detectable residues, yet there are alternatives. Successful fermentation can be achieved by using acids and ensuring scrupulous hygiene, however, antibiotic-free products cost more.

The advantage of phosphorous

An advantage of DDGS is that, having fermented, corn grain phosphorous availability is increased. This is because yeasts break down phytate and phosphorous is integrated into phospholipids in cell membranes.

“We must be very careful if we use phytases,” Martínez continues. “These enzymes also work with DDGS, but be aware of the value we provide to the amount of phytic phosphorous released”.

Phytase matrices were designed for use with corn-soy diets, with a 30% phosphorous availability as phytic phosphorus.

The use of various matrices will depend on which other products are used in the formulation. Using DDGS is not the same as using meat and bone meal or rice byproducts, the latter has more phytates so more phytase could be required.

Use in formulation

Variation exists in all raw materials. Add to this that processes vary and this leads to variety in end product quality. Take, for example, soy. Soy may vary in its nutritional characteristics and, increasingly, with new soybean varieties with more trypsin inhibitors, more problems arise if not identified.

DDGS has a limit in diet formulation. An important aspect is that the DDGS amino acid profile has both strengths and weaknesses, and a particular problem is tryptophan with low protein diets, which have high usage of synthetic amino acids.

When formulating, it is not DDGS itself, but how formulation strategies are considered with three amino acids with a corn-soy matrix.

Carlos-Martínez-Amezcua

The key to working with DDGS is to find a company that offers a uniform product, says Dr. Carlos Martínez. | Dr. Carlos Martínez

“If you include other ingredients and don’t let tryptophane be part of the game, you’re going to have problems. The problem is not the ingredient, but  the matrix values we use. Here is where we have to be very careful,” Martínez notes.

He recommends using up to 10% DDGS in some diets if amino acids are considered, however, a safe level avoiding problems is 3-5% - the most commonly used range.

“I have formulated diets with up to 15%, with no problems,” Martínez adds. “If the feed is well formulated you can put in as many ingredients as you want and it will work well, maintaining animal performance and feed conversion.”

The impact on broiler carcass quality of a 10% inclusion rate will vary depending upon when in the growing period DDGS is added to feed.

Use of DGGS is dependent of knowing its characteristics and limitations. Its use in finishing, for example, results in softer carcass fats, as corn oil is high in unsaturated fatty acids.

In other species, such as swine, high inclusion of DDGS, with its high levels of unsaturated fatty acids, in finishing diets can be problematic. In broilers it is not such an issue but carcasses can become very greasy, leading some in slaughter plants to describe carcasses as “sweating”.

Use in layer diets

DDGS can also be used in layer diets and it works well.

“I particularly like it because you can introduce some linoleic acid, which must be formulated at a rate of least 1%,” Martínez says. 

DDGS with good oil content can offer better dietary characteristics and offer better palatability. Another positive aspect is corn’s xanthophylls content that supports egg pigmentation.

 

DDGS User Manual

The U.S, Grains Council (USGC) has a published a DDGS User Manual in both Spanish and English. The manual is designed for anyone involved in production, marketing, purchase, or use of DDGS from U.S corn and its co-products in feed.

English 

Spanish

 

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