Study eliminates factors in low amino acid digestibility in DDGS

Ethanol Producer Magazine
By Holly Jessen March 14, 2012

Compared to corn, dried distillers grains with solubles has a low and variable digestibility of amino acids, nutrients which swine and poultry need. Although that has generally been pinned on syrup balls or heat used in the drying process, researchers from the University of Illinois, Urbana, and the University of Minnesota did a study of growing pigs that eliminated syrup balls as a suspect for low amino acid digestibility.

The results of the study were published in the Journal of Animal Science. In order to determine if amino acid digestibility issues were associated with the solubles or syrup balls formed in DDGS, five ingredients were evaluated, including DDGS, intact syrup balls, ground syrup balls, liquid condensed solubles and pulse-dried thin stillage, all produced at the same ethanol plant.

Researchers noted that batches of DDGS can contain variable amounts and sizes of syrup balls, said Juliana Soares-Almeida, who worked on this study as part of her master’s study in animal science at University of Illinois. “Our concern was that the presence of syrup balls could contribute to the low and variable amino acid digestibility in DDGS,” she told EPM.

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