PS5-13. Evaluation of Two Specialty Corn Protein-based Products on Growth Performance and Fecal Dry Matter of Nursery Pigs

A total of 4,100 weanling pigs (initially 5.86 ± 0.06 kg) were used in a 42-day study to evaluate the effects of two specialty corn protein products, Modified Corn Protein and MOTIV (Cargill Starches, Sweeteners, & Texturizers, Blair, Nebraska), on growth performance and fecal dry matter (DM). Pens of pigs were assigned to one of four dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design, with 50 to 52 pigs per pen and 20 replicates per treatment. Diets were corn–soybean meal–based and formulated to differ in complexity: a high-complexity diet which included 3.5% fish meal and 7.5% enzymatically treated soybean meal (ESBM) in phase 1, and 5% ESBM in phase 2; a medium-complexity diet which contained 5% ESBM without fish meal in phase 1 and 2.5% ESBM in phase 2; and two diets were formulated in which either MCP or Motiv replaced the fish meal and ESBM from the high-complexity diet with 10% corn protein products in phase 1 and 5% in phase 2. Amino acid profiles were balanced to ensure similar conventional soybean meal inclusion across diets. Diets were fed in three phases according to a feed budget: 1.8 kg/pig in phase 1, 5.4 kg/pig in phase 2, and a common diet for phase 3. Fecal samples were collected on d 16 from five randomly selected pigs per pen to determine fecal DM. Overall, pigs fed the medium-complexity diet had greater (P < 0.05) average daily gain (ADG) and final body weight (BW) at d 42 compared with pigs fed diets containing Motiv, whereas pigs fed the high-complexity diet or MCP were intermediate. Average daily feed intake (ADFI) was also greater (P < 0.05) for pigs fed the medium-complexity diet compared with those fed MCP or Motiv, with high-complexity diets intermediate. No differences were observed among treatments for gain-to-feed ratio (G:F). For fecal DM, pigs fed diets with Motiv had higher (P < 0.05) fecal DM compared with pigs fed the medium-complexity diet, while pigs fed high-complexity or MCP diets were intermediate. In summary, replacing traditional protein sources with the specialty corn protein products tested in this study increased fecal DM but reduced overall growth performance.