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The effects of dietary crude glycerin on growth performance, carcass characteristics, meat quality indices, and tissue histology in growing pigs were determined in a 138-d feeding trial. Crude glycerin utilized in the trial contained 84.51% glycerin, 11.95% water, 2.91% sodium chloride, and 0.32% methanol. Eight days postweaning, 96 pigs (48 barrows and 48 gilts, average BW of 7.9 ± 0.4 kg) were allotted to 24 pens (4 pigs/pen), with sex and BW balanced at the start of the experiment. Dietary treatments were 0, 5, and 10% crude glycerin inclusion in corn-soybean meal-based diets and were randomly assigned to pens. Diets were offered ad libitum in meal form and formulated to be equal in ME, sodium, chloride, and Lys, with other AA balanced on an ideal AA basis. Pigs and feeders were weighed every other week to determine ADG, ADFI, and G:F. At the end of the trial, all pigs were scanned using real-time ultrasound and subsequently slaughtered at a commercial abattoir. Blood samples were collected pretransport and at the time of slaughter for plasma metabolite analysis. In addition, kidney, liver, and eye tissues were collected for subsequent examination for lesions characteristic of methanol toxicity. After an overnight chilling of the carcass, loins were removed for meat quality, sensory evaluation, and fatty acid profile analysis. Pig growth, feed intake, and G:F were not affected by dietary treatment. Dietary treatment did not affect 10th-rib backfat, LM area, percent fat free lean, meat quality, or sensory evaluation. Loin ultimate pH was increased (P= 0.06) in pigs fed the 5 and 10% crude glycerin compared with pigs fed no crude glycerin (5.65 and 5.65 versus 5.57, respectively). Fatty acid profile of the LM was slightly changed by diet with the LM from pigs fed 10% crude glycerin having less linoleic acid (P< 0.01) and more eicosapentaenoic acid (P= 0.02) than pigs fed the 0 or 5% crude glycerin diets. Dietary treatment did not affect blood metabolites or frequency of lesions in the examined tissues. This experiment demonstrated that pigs can be fed up to 10% crude glycerin with no effect on pig performance, carcass composition, meat quality, or lesion scores.

The apparent DE and ME values of crude glycerol for growing pigs were determined in 5 experiments using crude glycerol (86.95% glycerol) from a biodiesel production facility, which used soybean oil as the initial feedstock. Dietary treatments were 0, 5, or 10% glycerol addition to basal diets in Exp. 1; 0, 5, 10, or 20% glycerol addition to basal diets in Exp. 2; and 0 and 10% crude glycerol addition to the basal diets in Exp. 3, 4, and 5. Each diet was fed twice daily to pigs in individual metabolism crates. After a 10-d adjustment period, a 5-d balance trial was conducted. During the collection period, feces and urine were collected separately after each meal and stored at 0°C until analyses. The GE of each dietary treatment and samples of urine and feces from each pig were determined by isoperibol bomb calorimetry. Digestible energy of the diet was calculated by subtracting fecal energy from the GE in the feed, whereas ME was calculated by subtracting the urinary energy from DE. The DE and ME values of crude glycerol were estimated as the slope of the linear relationship between either DE or ME intake from the experimental diet and feed intake. Among all experiments, the crude glycerol (86.95% glycerol) examined in this study was shown to have a DE of 3,344 ± 8 kcal/kg and an ME of 3,207 ± 10 kcal/kg, thereby providing a highly available energy source for growing pigs.

Corn kernel composition may affect its nutritive value and, thus, pig growth performance and carcass characteristics. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of the chemical and physical traits of corn kernels from different hybrids on the growth performance and carcass characteristics of pigs. A total of 288 crossbred pigs were grown in a 3-phase program from 21 kg of BW until slaughter at 113 kg of BW with 12 pens (4 pigs/pen) per dietary treatment. Target BW for each phase were 20 to 40 kg (grower 1), 40 to 80 kg (grower 2), and 80 to 120 kg (finisher). In each phase, diets were formulated to be marginally deficient in Lys, TSAA, Ca, Na, and nonphytate P to improve the likelihood of detecting differences in performance due to corn hybrid. Each of 6 corn hybrids represented a wide range of kernel chemical and physical traits and was substituted for corn in a common diet formulation on an equal weight basis to make the 6 dietary treatments. Physical and chemical composition of the kernels were analyzed and correlated with performance measures by multivariate ANOVA. Kernel density was correlated with i.m. fat (IMF) content in LM (r = −.35, P< 0.05). Stenvert grinding time was correlated (P< 0.05) with ADG during the grower 1 phase (r = 0.26), ADFI during the grower 2 phase (r = 0.27), final BW (r = 0.27), and IMF (r = −0.36). The amylose content of the cornstarch was correlated (P< 0.05) with ADG during the grower 2 phase (r = −0.28) and with BW at the end of the grower 2 phase (r = −0.27). The NDF content of the kernels was correlated (P< 0.05) with ADG during the finisher phase (r = −0.30), final BW (r = −0.33), and number of days to market (r = 0.31). The ADF content of the kernels was correlated (P< 0.05) with ADG during the grower 1 phase (r = −0.26), final BW (r = −0.26), and IMF (r = 0.31). The correlations of performance measure variation with individual kernel hybrid physical and chemical traits were statistically significant yet not large enough to base corn hybrid selection for feeding pigs on any single kernel chemical or physical trait.

Early-weaned pigs (n = 64) averaging 5.3 ± 0.3 kg and distributed into two environments (dirty and clean) were used to evaluate effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on growth performance, immune competence, and empty body composition. A factorial (2 × 4) arrangement within a split-plot design, with four littermate pigs as the experimental unit for the environment, pig within litter as the experimental unit for dietary treatment, and d-0 body weight used as covariate, were used in data analysis. Diets were formulated to contain CLA at 0, 0.67, 1.33, or 2% and to exceed the NRC (1988) nutrient needs of pigs. Animals were given ad libitum access to feed for 7 wk in three phases (I, 1 to 2; II, 3 to 5; and III, 6 to 7 wk). Within phases, diets were isocaloric and isonitrogenous. In Phase I, as dietary CLA concentration increased, ADG and ADFI decreased linearly (P< 0.05 and P< 0.02, respectively). In Phase II, upon adaptation to dietary CLA supplementation, ADG increased quadratically (603, 623, 622, and 548 g/d; P< 0.01), ADFI decreased linearly (873, 840, 867, and 717 g/d; P< 0.02) and gain:feed ratio tended to increase linearly (691, 742, 715, and 763; P< 0.07). In Phase III, no differences in growth performance were attributed to either dietary or environmental treatments. The poor health status associated with the dirty environment induced a growth suppression; pigs in the clean room had a greater cumulative ADG (P< 0.01) and ADFI (P< 0.01) than pigs in the dirty room. In Phase I, lower plasma urea nitrogen levels observed in pigs found in the dirty room (P< 0.03) indicated a lower protein intake caused by a lower ADFI. The effects of dietary CLA on peripheral phenotypic profiles of lymphoytes did not appear until d 42. However, as indicated by the growth suppression of pigs in the dirty room, the negative effects of the environmental challenge on pig health and growth had already appeared during phase I. On d 42, CLA induced a linear increase in percentages of CD8+lymphocytes (21.7, 22.3, 28.0, and 32.7%; P< 0.001). These data suggest that a 42-d dietary CLA supplementation preceding a disease challenge could have prevented disease-associated growth suppression. Also, CLA-mediated amelioration of particular infectious diseases will depend on which CD8+T cell subset (i.e., CD8αα-immunoregulatory or CD8αβ-cytotoxic) is most influenced by dietary CLA supplementation.

Reliable knowledge of manure nutrient content for intensive animal operations is imperative to development of effective comprehensive nutrient management plans, which will minimize nutrient runoff and pollution of adjacent waterways. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the spatial variation of manure dry-matter (DM), phosphorus (P), and nitrogen (N) content in commercial high-rise laying-hen houses, and to determine the sampling locations and number of samples that will lead to good assessment of nutrient content of manure in the houses. Two side-by-side manure samples were collected from 9 locations in each of 6 high-rise laying-hen houses (18 samples per house) and analyzed for DM, N, and P content. The 9 sample locations were distributed as one-fourth, half, and three-fourths of the building length, with 3 sample locations (every other manure row) per cross-section of the 5 manure rows. The average of DM, N, or P content from the 18 samples per house was used as the reference value for comparison of 8 sampling scenarios. Results showed that duplicate sampling at a location added little to the precision of the data. Manure samples collected crossways across the middle of the house or diagonally across the house in either direction yielded results most similar to the reference value for that house. Hence, when collecting manure samples for nutrient assessment in high-rise laying-hen houses, a single sample collected from every other manure pile across the middle of the building should be sufficient to obtain representative samples of the house and is recommended.

Dietary spray-dried plasma protein (SDPP) is effective in improving growth performance of pigs raised in unsanitary conditions. However, little is known about the efficacy of SDPP in improving growth performance and carcass characteristics of broiler chickens. In the present study, graded levels of bovine SDPP (0 to 2% of the diet) were fed to male broiler chickens (Ross 308) from 1 to 42 d of age. The study was divided into 2 experiments, each with 480 chickens, with identical experimental designs. Broilers in the second experiment were raised on the soiled litter from the first experiment, thereby creating 2 environments with different levels of sanitation. Broilers fed the control diet in experiment 2 had higher mortality, lower rate of body weight gain, and were less uniform than broilers fed the control diet in experiment 1, suggesting that reusing the soiled litter in experiment 2 resulted in a relatively more unsanitary environment. Dietary bovine SDPP did not affect growth performance or carcass characteristics in the first experiment, but improved growth rate, feed conversion, breast-meat yield (as a percentage of carcass weight), and flock uniformity of the broilers in the second, more unsanitary, experiment. In conclusion, dietary SDPP, fed throughout the growth period, improved growth performance and breast-meat yield of broilers raised in an unsanitary environment.