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Distillers dried grains
with solubles (DDGS) is a byproduct of the ethanol industry in which
the starch component of cereal grains (corn, wheat, barley, rye, and
sorghum) undergoes a fermentation process and is converted to ethanol
and CO2 .1
There has been a considerable growth in the biofuel industry in Europe
and North America (including Canada) over the past few years. The
government of Canada strongly supports the expansion of this industry
and at the same time, it has been providing funding for research on the
usage of DDGS in the animal industry. On the other hand, according to a
survey conducted by Hormel Foods, six out of 10 Americans (61 per cent)
said that corn-based ethanol is at least partly responsible for higher
food prices. 2
DDGS can be used as a feed ingredient in poultry diets including
broilers, laying hens, and turkeys (1) although the majority of these
studies have been done on corn DDGS. Currently, there is an increasing
tendency to work on wheat and other grains as source of DDGS in Canada.
Dr. Eduardo Beltranena of Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development and
Dr. Doug Korver of University of Alberta have been conducting research
projects investigating potential benefits of using DDGS (of different
sources) in poultry diets.
Although DDGS is a good source of certain nutrients for poultry, the
main concern is variation in nutrient composition (crude protein, amino
acids such as lysine and methionine, fat, fibre, minerals) and also
availability of these nutrients to the birds, which may limit use of
DDGS in poultry diets. Grain composition and ethanol production
procedures are two major contributing factors to this variability.
I hope that colleagues from the industry will share their experiences
of how they deal with pros and cons of DDGS as an ingredient for diet
formulation.
1- http://journals.cambridge.org/action
2- http://www.hormelfoods.com/newsroom/press/20081023.aspx
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